WME, property developer settle arbitration situation

WME pays an undisclosed sum to developer George Comfort & Sons since the arbitration over its lease of Beverly Hillsides work place continues to be settled. The settlement weren't revealed, but sources stated the company pays between $20 million and $$ 30 million. In 2006, the William Morris Agency signed a contract with Gotham-based George Comfort to lease space inside a building then being built on North Beverly Drive, with intends to relocate by 2009. But after WMA merged with Endeavor in mid-2009, the offer fell apart. One of the issues was WME's declare that Comfort violated the agreement by permitting another talent agency, Gersh, to talk about a parking garage meant for WME. Comfort sued 3 years ago, and also the sides later moved into arbitration. After a preliminary ruling from the tenpercentery, WME become a huge hit in This summer. Thursday's decision may be the final word within the situation, because the agency won't appeal the ruling. "The problem continues to be resolved on the mutually acceptable basis," a WME spokesperson told Variety. MGM has occupied the area meant for WME since 2010. Biz experts speculate the Lion has assisted mitigate a few of the costs WME might have faced in the settlement. WME has consolidated the majority of its staff into what have been Endeavor's Wilshire Boulevard offices. The agency's music department remains within the old WMA structures lower the road on El Camino Drive. WMA offered its three BevHills structures in 2008 when preparing because of its move, however it ongoing to lease work place inside them. A repetition for George Comfort couldn't be arrived at for comment late Thursday. Contact Rachel Abrams at Rachel.Abrams@variety.com

'Wish You Were Here' Presents A Killer 'Hangover'

Despite what you may have learned from the "Hangover" films, endless nights of drunken debauchery don't always result in hilarious misadventures. In fact, the results can quite often be very tragic and very dangerous, as is the case in the Sundance Film Festival drama "Wish You Were Here," starring Joel Edgerton and Teresa Palmer. "It's [about] four people going to Cambodia on a holiday. Three of them come home," Edgerton told MTV News about the film's premise. "The film is told in Sydney in forward time, then you're going backwards to pick up traces and flashes of evidence of what really went down." Edgerton and Palmer both agree that there are no traces of "The Hangover" in "Wish You Were Here," especially because their film doesn't feature a chain-smoking monkey, or Bradley Cooper for that matter. "That's rare these days," Edgerton cracked about the "Hangover" star's frequent screen presence. "And I'd say that if he were here, too!" Instead, "Wish You Were Here" is an intense drama that's received equally passionate praise from Sundance attendees. Edgerton credits the success of the film, at least in part, to the blending of different genres. "It's a taut thriller with an interesting relationship drama in it," he said. "But really, it's encased in a thriller. I think we made a successful job of it." The 2012 Sundance Film Festival is officially under way, and the MTV Movies team is on the ground reporting on the hottest stars and the movies everyone will be talking about in the year to come. Keep it locked with MTV Movies for everything there is to know about Sundance.

BBC computes succession plan

LONDON -- Mind potential predators are actually hired to create a succession request the BBC's director-general Mark Thompson as speculation increases he could step lower after this summer's London Olympics. BBC Trust chairman Chris Patten has hired worldwide recruitment firm, Egon Zehnder, to produce this program by Easter time time -- a really unusual step for your pubcaster. "I'd like us so as, when it is time, by having an intelligent take a look at that are possible successors and where successors should result from and what type of job we have to desire them to complete,In . Patten told The Occasions. While using recruitment specialists did not, mentioned Patten, "warrant the headline 'Starting gun fired for Mark Thompson succession.' " Thompson has elevated the job since 2004, a somewhat very very long time for just what is a highly uncovered role in British public existence. While there appears being no apparent pressure from Patten for your director-general to prevent, time may be appropriate for sides. Thompson recently oversaw the delivery of 700 million ($1.1 billion) of cuts carrying out a coalition government's license fee freeze in October 2010, as well as the effective move of two,300 jobs from London to BBC North in Salford, Manchester. In addition, the BBC is around the roll creatively due to content natural history series "Frozen Planet," homegrown dramas "Sherlock" and considerably recognized two-parter "Birdsong," plus awesome factual shows including "The Fantastic British Bake Off" and "Stargazing Live." A minimum of, its lots of experts inside the U.K. press, depressed through the fall-from the News around the world phone hacking story, have fallen mostly quiet. In public areas, Patten is certainly going of his approach to praise Thompson's achievements, but like every his forerunners he'll ultimately wish to train on a director-general that belongs to them choosing -- and likely for less than the approximate $millions of the incumbent makes. There's a good amount of appropriate successors inside the U.K. but cake cake toppers used in U.S. media may even attract Egon Zehnder's interest. For Thompson's next job, he might make room the Atlantic as his wife, Jane, is American. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com

Food Network makes changes at 'Star'

Alton Brown will shift from host to mentor on Food Network Star. As Food Network's "Food Network Star" heads into production for its eighth season, premiering May 13, it has made plans for changes both onscreen and off. The reality competition skein will shift the choice of the season champion from the judges to a fan vote that will be held before the season finale. The grand prize remains a show on Food Network, but this time around, it will be produced by the winner's mentor. In addition, Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis will shed their judging duties and, along with first-time series regular Alton Brown, will each select a team of finalists to mentor through the competition. "Bobby, Giada and Alton are the best of the best in food television," said Food Network g.m. and SVP of programming and production Bob Tuschman. "Combined, they've produced hundreds of hours of award-winning programming. With their skills and instincts, they are the perfect people to help us find, develop and produce our next 'Food Network Star.' " Tuschman and Food Network senior veep of marketing, creative and brand strategy Susie Fogelson will return to handle judging duties, aided by a series of guest judges. Tuschman said the intent of the changes is to "dial up the competition and the excitement." CBS Eye Too Prods. produces "Food Network Star." Principal filming is moving back to NY, the show's original home, after several seasons based in Los Angeles. Contact Jon Weisman at jon.weisman@variety.com

'Judge Alex,' 'Divorce Court' renewed

Twentieth Television has renewed both "Judge Alex" and "Divorce Court" just in time for syndie-centric TV industry confab NATPE. The series have been reupped through the 2013-14 season, Twentieth's Paul Franklin said in a Thursday afternoon release. Both shows are cleared in 75% of the country, including Fox affiliates in Gotham, L.A., Chicago and Dallas. They'll also return to stations owned by Tribune, Sinclair, CBS, Local, Belo and Newport. "Judge Alex," now in its seventh season, follows the cases that cross the docket of former judge Alex E. Ferrer. "Divorce Court," presided over by Lynn Toler, has been running in its current incarnation since 1999. Contact Sam Thielman at sam.thielman@variety.com

Devesa, Funato launch Alpha Purple

PARIS -- Virginie Devesa and Keiko Funato have released Alpha Purple, a Paris-based sales company that underscores the cosmopolitan achieve from the Gallic sector. One early Alpha Purple acquisition, "Off Whitened Lies," from Israel's Maya Kenig, performed competing a week ago in the Palm Springs Festival and screens in Berlinale's Generation sidebar. Backed by France's Chamber of Commerce, Alpha Purple aims to utilize new talent from emerging national movie theaters, making worldwide sales on movies that reflect the burgeoning breadth of arthouse production. Alpha's range reflects its founders' skills: Both labored at Hengameh Panahi's Celluloid Dreams before joining U Media. Funato then labored for Japanese distributor Uplink while Devesa offered being an audiovisual attache in the French Embassy in Moscow. Arthouse comedy "Lies" is placed in the outbreak from the second Lebanon war and follows a parent and daughter appearing as refugees to snag accommodation having a wealthy Jerusalem family. Alpha Violet's two other buys tackle social issues more directly. "Journey to Portugal," from Portuguese docu filmmaker Sergio Trefaut, starring Maria p Madeiros, denounces prejudice and European airport terminal border control methods. Russian helmer Alexander Vartanov's "Bullet Collector" is really a low-budget, b&w coming-of-age tale that captures the violence of edgy Moscow youth. Kenig, Trefaut and Vartanov are first-time fiction company directors. "You want to partner with filmmakers using their origins and focus on quality, daring films with issues we want to discuss," Devesa told Variety. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

New York Revises Controversial Child-Performer Regulations

What a difference a year makes.Last January, the NY State Department of Labor sparked outrage over its proposed new regulations for child performers. In a series of contentious hearings, the proposals were pummeled by producers, agents, union representatives, and parents, who claimed that the rules would create confusion and endanger NY's entertainment industry, as well as the welfare of child entertainers.Revised rules published this week deal with work hours, supervision, trust accounts, education, health exams, permits, and even reality TV. Yet they're being met with a more muted, even supportive response. Back Stage obtained a copy of the proposed rules before they were published and ran them past industry professionals and child advocates. Most praised the Labor Department for adapting the rules to the demands of their trades, some hoped to further tweak the proposals, and others remained dismayed at the nearly nine-year process that led to the new policies."Let's remember, these regs are not in response to some outcry," said Melissa Patack, vice president for state government affairs at the Motion Picture Association of America. "These are regulations implementing a law that was passed a number of years ago."A Long, Strange Trip That law was NY's Child Performer Education and Trust Act of 2003. "It addressed only a couple issues, establishing rules on education and trust fund accounts, or what are called Coogan accounts in California," said Paula Dorn, a co-founder of the BizParentz Foundation, a nonprofit organization for families of child actors.California passed its "Coogan Law" in 1939 to protect child performers from financial abuse. The law was named for child star Jackie Coogan, whose parents squandered millions of dollars of his earnings before he reached 18. In California and NY, 15 percent of a child performer's earnings are held in a trust. One important difference is that NY custodians can take money out before the performer reaches adulthood."I called the NY lawmakers and said, 'Okay, so you passed this law, but where are the details?' " Dorn recalled. "They said it's the process: 'We passed the shell, and the details come later.' "The details never came. In 2007, Gov. Eliot Spitzer signed into law a bill aimed at identifying and preventing eating disorders among child entertainers. The impetus arose from high-profile cases of anorexia in teenage models, and a Child Performer Advisory Board was created to develop guidelines and make recommendations to the state commissioners of health and labor."The meetings were all about eating disorders," complained attorney Kelly Crisp, who started the Child Performers Coalition, a New Yorkarea advocacy group. "They talked about monitoring menstrual cycles, children's body mass index, their mental health, and whether they considered suicide. When they finally made recommendations, they wanted kids to go for regular full physicals, including mental health exams."The First Try The Department of Labor proposed new regulations for child performers at the end of 2010. The rules would have restricted work hours, but a 10 p.m. cutoff threatened Broadway shows. Physical and mental evaluations were to be required every six months, and teachers would be provided for children who were on set for five or more hours. With the new health, education, scheduling, and financial rules came additional paperwork and reporting requirements. The regulations would have also limited parents' access to their children. For kids age 6 and older, the employer would appoint a "responsible person" to act as a chaperone, though this adult would not be subject to licensing or background checks."That's basically like handing your child to someone in Times Square for the day," said Crisp, who vowed to never leave her 12-year-old son, Toliver, with "an unvetted and unsupervised" adult. "Everyone knows there's an issue with child predators."The MPAA hated that rule too. "Producers like to have parents around, because the parents are responsible for the child," Patack said. Requiring employers to appoint an overseer was not "in the child's best interest or, frankly, the employer's best interest," she said. "It just creates a potential situation for confusion."The Department of Labor was drawing on Broadway's use of "wranglers" to direct kids backstage. "Theaters are small, confined places, and the people who've been the responsible person have a long history," explained Actors' Equity Association spokesperson Maria Somma. "They really understand the challenges of being a child performer on the stage."The different needs of the different industries led to other problems. Work-hour rules weren't new to the MPAA, for example, but they petrified the Broadway League. "Broadway shows get out at 11," Somma said."Everyone was shocked," Crisp recalled. "The Department of Labor didn't understand the entertainment industry, and they didn't reach out to the groups that understand it. The regulations were so harmful, we said, 'Stop the clock and put together a true board that would represent the industry, including child performers. In two days we could hammer this out.' No one responded."To gain insight into what shaped the department's decisions, Crisp filed a Freedom of Information Act request that netted 1,000 pages. "They reached out to only one parent," Crisp said.Try, Try Again On Dec. 23, the Department of Labor filed revised regulations. No public hearing was scheduled. The NY State Register would publish the proposed rules on Jan. 11, and the public would have 30 days to respond. Additional changes might be made, or the new regulations would be adopted.When she received a copy, Patack quickly fired back a response, attaching her seven-page dissection of the previous version of the rules. "The latest draft regulations are substantially similar, if not identical in some sections, to those proposed by the department in December of 2010," she wrote, adding that the new proposals "could make filming in NY cumbersome."But on reconsideration, Patack has taken a softer tone. "A couple things did change," she said, "but there's a number of other issues." She likes the revised rules on education, which permit students to miss two days of classes. "That allows for background performers, for day jobs."The regulations would extend theater work hours to midnight and sanction homeschoolers. The medical exams and the permitting of child performers would occur once a year instead of twice.A parent could choose to be his or her child's "responsible person" and must okay any other person in that job. Crisp says "very few" parents would place their children with someone else, but she and Dorn would still like to see qualifications and screenings required for unrelated adults. California's state Assembly is considering a bill that would require licensing and background checks for anyone who works with actors under 16.Patack doesn't like the "fallback position," which calls on the employer to designate a responsible person if the parent fails to appoint one. "Parents have to step up to the plate and take on this responsibility," she said. She also doesn't like the regulations applying to reality TV, believing that work-hour rules shouldn't interfere with such shows. Dorn agrees, because the children are leading their genuine lives on those programs, she said. "The kids might be better served if it's not called employment."Making deposits into trust funds would be facilitated by a requirement that parents attach account information to their child's permit. But Patack dislikes a provision that revokes or suspends an employer's permit if the required transfers don't happen. Now the money ends up with the state comptroller as unclaimed funds. "Mistakes happen," she said.Dorn would like access to trust accounts blocked, but overall she regards the revised regulations as a benefit to child performers. "We were worried they were going to throw this out," she said. "We were pleased they tried to utilize all the input. It's taken since 2003 to fill all of this in."Patack is still lobbying for changes. "NY is a great location," she said. "The issue is they're trying to accommodate us and Broadway, and we're two very different businesses. I'm confident we'll get it right." By Patrick Arden January 11, 2012 What a difference a year makes.Last January, the NY State Department of Labor sparked outrage over its proposed new regulations for child performers. In a series of contentious hearings, the proposals were pummeled by producers, agents, union representatives, and parents, who claimed that the rules would create confusion and endanger NY's entertainment industry, as well as the welfare of child entertainers.Revised rules published this week deal with work hours, supervision, trust accounts, education, health exams, permits, and even reality TV. Yet they're being met with a more muted, even supportive response. Back Stage obtained a copy of the proposed rules before they were published and ran them past industry professionals and child advocates. Most praised the Labor Department for adapting the rules to the demands of their trades, some hoped to further tweak the proposals, and others remained dismayed at the nearly nine-year process that led to the new policies."Let's remember, these regs are not in response to some outcry," said Melissa Patack, vice president for state government affairs at the Motion Picture Association of America. "These are regulations implementing a law that was passed a number of years ago."A Long, Strange Trip That law was NY's Child Performer Education and Trust Act of 2003. "It addressed only a couple issues, establishing rules on education and trust fund accounts, or what are called Coogan accounts in California," said Paula Dorn, a co-founder of the BizParentz Foundation, a nonprofit organization for families of child actors.California passed its "Coogan Law" in 1939 to protect child performers from financial abuse. The law was named for child star Jackie Coogan, whose parents squandered millions of dollars of his earnings before he reached 18. In California and NY, 15 percent of a child performer's earnings are held in a trust. One important difference is that NY custodians can take money out before the performer reaches adulthood."I called the NY lawmakers and said, 'Okay, so you passed this law, but where are the details?' " Dorn recalled. "They said it's the process: 'We passed the shell, and the details come later.' "The details never came. In 2007, Gov. Eliot Spitzer signed into law a bill aimed at identifying and preventing eating disorders among child entertainers. The impetus arose from high-profile cases of anorexia in teenage models, and a Child Performer Advisory Board was created to develop guidelines and make recommendations to the state commissioners of health and labor."The meetings were all about eating disorders," complained attorney Kelly Crisp, who started the Child Performers Coalition, a NYarea advocacy group. "They talked about monitoring menstrual cycles, children's body mass index, their mental health, and whether they considered suicide. When they finally made recommendations, they wanted kids to go for regular full physicals, including mental health exams."The First Try The Department of Labor proposed new regulations for child performers at the end of 2010. The rules would have restricted work hours, but a 10 p.m. cutoff threatened Broadway shows. Physical and mental evaluations were to be required every six months, and teachers would be provided for children who were on set for five or more hours. With the new health, education, scheduling, and financial rules came additional paperwork and reporting requirements. The regulations would have also limited parents' access to their children. For kids age 6 and older, the employer would appoint a "responsible person" to act as a chaperone, though this adult would not be subject to licensing or background checks."That's basically like handing your child to someone in Times Square for the day," said Crisp, who vowed to never leave her 12-year-old son, Toliver, with "an unvetted and unsupervised" adult. "Everyone knows there's an issue with child predators."The MPAA hated that rule too. "Producers like to have parents around, because the parents are responsible for the child," Patack said. Requiring employers to appoint an overseer was not "in the child's best interest or, frankly, the employer's best interest," she said. "It just creates a potential situation for confusion."The Department of Labor was drawing on Broadway's use of "wranglers" to direct kids backstage. "Theaters are small, confined places, and the people who've been the responsible person have a long history," explained Actors' Equity Association spokesperson Maria Somma. "They really understand the challenges of being a child performer on the stage."The different needs of the different industries led to other problems. Work-hour rules weren't new to the MPAA, for example, but they petrified the Broadway League. "Broadway shows get out at 11," Somma said."Everyone was shocked," Crisp recalled. "The Department of Labor didn't understand the entertainment industry, and they didn't reach out to the groups that understand it. The regulations were so harmful, we said, 'Stop the clock and put together a true board that would represent the industry, including child performers. In two days we could hammer this out.' No one responded."To gain insight into what shaped the department's decisions, Crisp filed a Freedom of Information Act request that netted 1,000 pages. "They reached out to only one parent," Crisp said.Try, Try Again On Dec. 23, the Department of Labor filed revised regulations. No public hearing was scheduled. The NY State Register would publish the proposed rules on Jan. 11, and the public would have 30 days to respond. Additional changes might be made, or the new regulations would be adopted.When she received a copy, Patack quickly fired back a response, attaching her seven-page dissection of the previous version of the rules. "The latest draft regulations are substantially similar, if not identical in some sections, to those proposed by the department in December of 2010," she wrote, adding that the new proposals "could make filming in NY cumbersome."But on reconsideration, Patack has taken a softer tone. "A couple things did change," she said, "but there's a number of other issues." She likes the revised rules on education, which permit students to miss two days of classes. "That allows for background performers, for day jobs."The regulations would extend theater work hours to midnight and sanction homeschoolers. The medical exams and the permitting of child performers would occur once a year instead of twice.A parent could choose to be his or her child's "responsible person" and must okay any other person in that job. Crisp says "very few" parents would place their children with someone else, but she and Dorn would still like to see qualifications and screenings required for unrelated adults. California's state Assembly is considering a bill that would require licensing and background checks for anyone who works with actors under 16.Patack doesn't like the "fallback position," which calls on the employer to designate a responsible person if the parent fails to appoint one. "Parents have to step up to the plate and take on this responsibility," she said. She also doesn't like the regulations applying to reality TV, believing that work-hour rules shouldn't interfere with such shows. Dorn agrees, because the children are leading their genuine lives on those programs, she said. "The kids might be better served if it's not called employment."Making deposits into trust funds would be facilitated by a requirement that parents attach account information to their child's permit. But Patack dislikes a provision that revokes or suspends an employer's permit if the required transfers don't happen. Now the money ends up with the state comptroller as unclaimed funds. "Mistakes happen," she said.Dorn would like access to trust accounts blocked, but overall she regards the revised regulations as a benefit to child performers. "We were worried they were going to throw this out," she said. "We were pleased they tried to utilize all the input. It's taken since 2003 to fill all of this in."Patack is still lobbying for changes. "NY is a great location," she said. "The issue is they're trying to accommodate us and Broadway, and we're two very different businesses. I'm confident we'll get it right."