The Business

We hear from Paranormal Activity producer Jason Blum on the challenge of making a sequel to the 2009 break-out hit. This time with studio backing from Paramount, the producers had to find a way to make the follow-up true to the ethos of its micro-budget original. Plus, producer of Toy Story 3, Darla K. Anderson -- the lone woman in Pixar's famed brain trust. She weighs in on gender dynamics at this successful studio and in the movie business as a whole while addressing the controversy over Pixar firing its first female director.

Gary Calamar, music supervisor of hit TV shows (True Blood, Dexter, House and Six Feet Under) on choosing the right songs to convey a mood and brand a show.  Gareth Edwards on working guerrilla-style and doing his own effects to make his sci-fi thriller Monsters on the cheap.

Since 2005, Franklin Leonard, creator and keeper of The Black List, has kept Hollywood on pins and needles every December awaiting this compilation of the most loved unproduced screenplays making the rounds in town. Plus, Darlene Hunt -- creator and executive producer of Showtime's The Big C, starring Laura Linney -- started out as an actress but hit it big as a writer. 

Celebrated director Stephen Frears (The Grifters, High Fidelity, The Queen) talks about his new movie Tamara Drewe and his comfort level working in the independent film world. After two failed attempts at Hollywood studio movies, the indie director says he retreated to a more sensible place, away from the large budgets that had a paralyzing effect on him.  Then we meet Dan Bern and Mike Viola, the Lennon-McCartney of mock rock movie songs, including those sung by the fictitious rock stars in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Get Him to The Greek.

Kyle Killen created the Fox drama, Lone Star, which was recently canceled after just two airings.  While that television dream didn't exactly work out as planned, his film career is hanging in limbo. He wrote the much lauded screenplay for the movie The Beaver, which was due out this year. Killen talks about how this screenplay turned his life around and how the casting of Gibson may have affected the possibility of it's release.

"Jumped the Shark" may be the most famous thing Fred Fox, Jr. has ever written and in a way he didn't even write it-- not that phrase exactly.  Fox is the Happy Days writer behind the now infamous episode that inspired the iconic catchphrase 'jumped the shark.' Fox discusses writing the episode and its aftermath, and answers the question, "Why water skiis?" Then we go to the West Coast Documentary and Reality Conference, where eager producers and willing television executives engage in speed pitching.

Premieres, parties and press junkets at the Toronto International Film Festival. Kim Masters goes insides a junket to interview Conviction director Tony Goldwyn about working a festival. Then its off to an industry party where Nigel Cole, director of Made in Dagenham, compares this year's TIFF to two years ago when he was promoting a film that was jeopardized by financial troubles. Plus, the original title for Cole's latest film and why it changed.

Director Ken Kwapis's latest TV project is the new NBC series Outsourced, which premieres September 23. The show follows an American running a call center in Mumbai, and has been accused of stereotyping the Indian characters. Kwapis discusses these accusations and the nature of provocative comedies. He also talks about directing the pilot episodes of The Bernie Mac Show, The Larry Sanders Show and American version of The Office, and on working with show-runners and talent to create the tone and template for these beloved shows.

Battlefield Earth recently won the Razzie for being the "worst picture of the decade."  The two credited screenwriters on that film -- J.D. Shapiro and Corey Mandell — say, "Don't blame us!"  We find out how their careers survived writing one of the most notorious movies ever.  (This program was originally broadcast on April 19, 2010. Today's show features an all new Hollywood banter.)

The documentary The Tillman Story was given a controversial R rating for language by the Motion Picture Association of America. We talk with filmmaker Amir Bar Lev about his failed effort to challenge that rating in an appeal. Then we hear from Joan Graves, head of the MPAA's rating's board, about their reasoning on this and other questionable ratings.

Veteran television producer Winnie Holzman and Savannah Dooley go from being mother and daughter to writing partners. They run the ABC Family dramedy Huge, which is set in a weight-loss camp for teens.  While Holzman is an old hand at TV this is the first project by 25-year-old Dooley. Because of her inexperience the network paired her with her mom. Matt Holzman, Executive Producer of The Business, talks with the mother-daughter team about making Huge a family affair, their particular writing-partner fights, and nepotism in Hollywood.

Behind every filmmaker stands an assistant. The former assistant to Phillip Noyce, director of Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, read scripts for four years until finally finding his latest project, Salt.  Bea Sequeira talks about being a script reader and working in the shadows as an assistant.  Then Warner Bros' Michael Tritter gives us the back story on the stealth marketing campaign for Inception.  

In 1976 Star Wars was the first movie presented at Comic-Con. Now the four-day event, with about 125,000 attendees, is a huge marketing bonanza -- not just for comic-book movies, sci-fi, fantasy, horror and animation but practically any movie or TV show loosely connected to this fan base. We hear what the people at this year's Comic-Con think about Hollywood and speak with long-time studio "genre consultant" Jeff Walker, who's lived the geek dream, working for and with the studios on movies' publicity campaigns.  

Producer Dean Zanuck, goes out on his own, independent of his Oscar-winning producer father and of studio financing to make his new indie movie, Get Low.  He talks about being the third-generation in the family business of show business and of living up to his grandfather and father's legacy. Then filmmaker Robert Bella's efforts to bring his movie , Colin Fitz Lives, back from oblivion...

This week on The Business, it's Reality-palooza! Three producers of big unscripted hits -- Intervention, Top Chef and The Hills -- talk about the reality of reality television. They reveal the keys to casting, the dilemma of who really "writes" these shows, what soft-scripted mean and how important authenticity really is in reality TV.

Rona Barrett, who brought Hollywood gossip and entertainment industry news to TV, discusses show business -- then and now.  Then, with all this bad star behavior out there -- from Mel Gibson to Roman Polanski to Charlie Sheen -- we ask Dean Valentine, former head of UPN and Walt Disney Television, where Hollywood draws the line in a business that's all about the bottom line.

We look at the decision in the Celador versus Disney case. What was at issue? How will the decision awarding Celador a $270 million payout affect business in Hollywood? Then, Lance Daly directed a couple of 11-year-olds with no acting experience in his new movie Kisses. The Irish filmmaker wanted kids who were gritty and tough, but the very reason they're so affecting in the film made them a challenge to direct.

Twilight screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg talks about being a brand in Hollywood, and we look at how those with even tenuous links to the series earn fame and fortune. Also, Australian Mark Lewis, known for his humorous indie films on going 3-D with Cane Toads: The Conquest otherwise known as Ava-Toad.  

As the HBO series Entourage begins its seventh season, we find out what goes on inside a real-life entourage with Jerry Schilling, a member of Elvis Presley's famed "Memphis Mafia." Like the fictional entourage, Elvis' inner circle of homeboys lived with "The King" and accompanied him everywhere as he negotiated life in the entertainment business.

What happens when indie filmmakers accustomed to shooting on a micro-budget with unknown actors and DV cameras get to work with stars and millions of studio dollars to spend?  Brothers Jay and Mark Duplass talk about hiding from their own crew, negotiating with Fox Searchlight execs and staying true to their Mumblecore ethos while making Cyrus.