The Business

You're in a play?  But I thought you said you were in show business?  We look at the weird relationship between Hollywood and LA's legit stage.  Plus, even though they're not actors, directors can get typecast, too.

With a full-fledged production facility, major investments in film, and two world class film festivals, the United Arab Emirates is the next country to role the dice on Hollywood.

We talk to director Danny Boyle about making his new film in India, a country that's on the move, but still sometimes on the make.  Plus, the bizarre bazaar that is the American Film Market.

Hollywood's been beguiled and bedeviled by Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged since it was published in 1957. Fifty years later, why hasn't it been made into a movie?  We talk to legendary producer Al Ruddy, the first guy to get Rand's go ahead…in 1974.  (This is a rebroadcast of a program that originally aired on September 8. However, the "Hollywood News Caravan" is new.)

Is there a "Tom Bradley effect" in the movies, or are low returns for movies with black casts just self-fulfilling prophecy? Plus, music mogul Danny Goldberg and the future of the record business.

This indie film was all about the art until the studios got in the game. How will independent film change again now that the studios seem to be backing away? Plus, watching movies 'til you drop with the programmers of the Sundance Film Festival.

Will record-low consumer confidence cause companies to pull their ads off network television or will broke Americans staying at home be a boon to the TV viewing? Plus, the director of Repo! The Genetic Opera may have his career repossessed.

The making and marketing of a Christian hit which landed an impressive fourth place at the box office in its first weekend out. Plus, the first family of hair and make-up finally gets its own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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.

SAG and the producers are at an impasse, so what happens next? Plus, what happens when the mavens of Mumblecore go Hollywood?

From Hannah Montana to High School Musical, we look at Disney's teen green-making machine.