Categories
Movies/Television Music/Concerts

‘American Idol’ is Back for a 14th Season

Yes, American Idol is here to stay. Fox has announced that American Idol will return for its 14th season this year. There has been no confirmation as to who will be at the judges table this time around, but they finished off season 13 with Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr. and Keith Urban.

The network made the news official by announcing the audition dates that will bring in the ultra-talented singers for this season. American Idol auditions will hit 15 cities across the country, with its launch on June 18 in Minneapolis. The reality singing competition is sure to be a good one, as always.

Fox sees competition with other reality singing competitions, such as NBC’s The Voice, which is on its 6th season. The Voice is home to judges/coaches Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Pharrell Williams and Gwen Stefani. The most recent performance episode of American Idol brought in 8.65 million viewers.

See full story at E!.

Categories
HPC News Hollywood News Movies/Television

Tenant Spotlight with Bryan Grant

Brant Grant is the CEO and Creative

We had the opportunity to catch up with Bryan Grant of Bryan Grant Studios from our Hollywood Production Center location…

Bryan Grant is the founder and Executive Creative Director of Bryan Grant Studios. BGS is globally recognized for their work in broadcast, theatrical and digital Motion Graphics, Branding & 3D Animation. With over 20 years’ experience they’ve had the fortune of working with clients across the country including leading networks, studios, agencies, celebrities, & producers like David Copperfield, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, Universal Pictures, HBO, Nike, JWT, DDBO, Lexus & T-Mobile to name just a few. The full list can be found at bryangrantstudios.com. The studio’s work can be screened HERE.

Tell us a little about yourself, Bryan?
I went to Seaholm High school in Birmingham, MI & Columbia College in Chicago, IL. I studied film production and had the fortune of working with some incredible DP’s and film directors. In high school I was asked to teach the television production class, which was wild because a lot of my friends were my “students”. I later taught an animation course in college to help pay for my schooling. Most notably, I’ll never turn down some incredible BBQ.

How did you get started in the entertainment industry?
It’s funny.  I started at 14 when I opened my own video production company in Birmingham, MI. We became the #1 video production company for weddings & bar mitzvah one year later. I feel blessed to have always known what I wanted to do at a very early age.  Many years later after moving to Los Angeles my first client through BGS was Disney where we helped them animate one of their largest entertainment properties at the time.

Do you enjoy what you do?
I love what I do!  I couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my life. I especially love what happens when we combine the latest technology in VFX & 3D with our creative vision to help produce one-of-a-kind creative for our clients.

Who would you say is your biggest client that you were you like, “whoa!”
I would say David Copperfield.  He was an idol of mine growing up.  In fact I would tape all of his television specials every year and watch them a million times over.  So when he approached me later in my adult life it was totally surreal and an amazing experience. I was tasked to brand his new production company Red Safe.  The branding premiered in Variety magazine 2 months later and we couldn’t be happier.

Where do you see the future for BGS?
It’s important for me to promote the company’s core values, which are integrity, loyalty and accountability. Our client’s value that along with our strong creative output.  I see BGS growing into one of the most influential design and animation studio in Los Angeles within 2 years.  Staying humble, innovative and inspiring will get us there.

Thanks for taking the time out of your busy day to sit down with us, Bryan!

Categories
Movies/Television Music/Concerts Uncategorized Hollywood News

Pharrell Williams the Newest Coach on ‘The Voice’

The Voice is well into its 6th season, but we’ll be seeing a new face for the 7th season. It has been announced that Pharrell Williams will be taking Cee Lo Green’s spot as a coach for the new season of The Voice. Cee Lo Green announced his departure from the show in February, and has since been covered by Usher and Shakira.

Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green were the original coaching panel when the show started in 2011, and they continued to be the face of The Voice through season 3. For season 4, Christina and Cee Lo took a hiatus from the show, in which Shakira and Usher filled their spots. While season 5 had the original 4 coaches reinstated, season 6 is back with Adam, Blake, Shakira and Usher. Pharrell is the only confirmed coach for the 7th season of NBC’s The Voice.

Pharrell Williams will make a great addition to The Voice team, as they have in the past had the biggest and most current musical talent as coaches. Pharrell made quite a name for himself with the Despicable Me franchise soundtracks, and his 2014 Oscar performance of his Oscar nominated song ‘Happy.’ Pharrell made a guest appearance in the 4th season of the show, as a guest mentor for Usher and his team.

See full story at The Hollywood Reporter.

Categories
Movies/Television

The Final Tally at Sochi

The 2014 Sochi Olympics came to an end on Sunday.
The 2014 Sochi Olympics came to an end on Sunday.

The 2014 Sochi Olympics wrapped up on Sunday, and it was a truly exciting couple of weeks filled with wins and upsets. The Olympics concluded with the USA team taking home a total of 28 medals, of which 9 were gold, 7 were silver and 12 were bronze. The USA finished 2nd in the overall medal count, only behind Russia who held 33 medals at the end of the games. Norway went home in third place with a total of 26 medals. Russia was also the leader in gold medals received with a tally of 13, followed closely by Norway with 11 and Canada with 10. The USA placed 4th in gold medal count with 9 total. Of the total 98 medals up for grabs this year at the Olympics, a record high number of 26 nations claimed at least one of those medals.

The 2014 Sochi Olympics included an array of sports and competitions. Some of the events included bobsleigh, curling, figure skating, ice hockey, snowboard, speed skating, ski jumping and more. The major broadcast network NBC was responsible for streaming the events nightly during primetime. It was announced earlier that the 2018 Winter Olympics will take place in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Categories
Hollywood News Movies/Television

‘Heroes’ Coming Back to NBC

NBC will be bringing back an old favorite, 'Heroes', with a 'Heroes Reborn' in 2015.
NBC will be bringing back an old favorite, ‘Heroes’, with ‘Heroes Reborn’ in 2015.

Have you missed NBC’s Heroes since it ended in 2010? The superhero drama starring Hayden Panettiere kick started the superhero genre in television back in 2006, and it will now be making a reappearance. Original Heroes fans will be happy to hear that NBC has decided to bring back the show for a 13-episode event series to air in 2015. The new show will be titled Heroes Reborn and will be a stand-alone story. The characters have still not been announced, but fans should look forward to this because the original series creator Tim Kring will be leading this project as well.

Heroes was cancelled four years ago, but it was a huge hit at the time with its first season premiering to an average of 14.5 million viewers. With declining ratings, broadcast networks are turning to past series and brands to grab the attention of the old fan base. While Heroes was one of the first in the television superhero genre, there has since been, and continue to be, many others. Depending on which shows get renewed or greenlit by the 2015 season, Heroes Reborn could be looking at competition with The CW’s Arrow and its new spin-off Flash, Fox’s Batman prequel Gotham and ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

See full story at Entertainment Weekly.

Categories
Movies/Television Celebrity News

Bill Cosby is Back at NBC

Bill Cosby will be returning to NBC for a new family comedy.
Bill Cosby will be returning to NBC for a new family comedy.

The Cosby Show was an iconic family show during its eight-season run from 1984 to 1992. 22 years later, Bill Cosby will be returning to NBC for a new comedy show. Tom Werner, former producer on The Cosby Show, and Bill Cosby are uniting forces once again for a new family comedy sure to bring back some good ol’ memories. The show is expected to revolve around Cosby as the patriarch of a multi-generational family as they address marriage and parenting. No writers have been attached to the project yet, but they are planning for development to take place outside the traditional pilot season window.

Since Bill Cosby’s days on the set of one of America’s favorite family comedies, he has also starred in A Different World, CBS’ Cosby, and Kids Say the Darndest Things. Cosby is 76 years old and a multiple Emmy Award winner. He helped to make The Cosby Show the number one show in America for five years, and preceded other award winning sitcoms such as Family Ties and Cheers.

Read full story at The Hollywood Reporter.

Categories
Hollywood News Movies/Television

Golden Globe Nominations to be Announced

Olivia Wilde, Aziz Ansari and Zoe Saldana will be announcing the 71st Annual Golden Globe nominees live on Thursday, December 12.
Olivia Wilde, Aziz Ansari and Zoe Saldana will be announcing the 71st Annual Golden Globe nominations live on Thursday, December 12.

It seems like award season is in full swing now, and the Golden Globes will be joining the ranks. Aziz Ansari, Zoe Saldana and Olivia Wilde will be joining Hollywood Foreign Press Association President Theo Kingma to announce the 71st Annual Golden Globe Award nominees this week. Kevin Bacon’s daughter, and newly crowned Miss Golden Globes 2014, Sosie Bacon will be joining the announcers. The nomination announcement will take place on Thursday, December 12 airing live on NBC’s Today show and streaming on GoldenGlobes.com. Nominations will span across 25 categories for film and television, both domestic and foreign.

The 71st Annual Golden Globe Awards is set to air live on Sunday, January 12, 2014. Audience favorites Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will be hosting the awards ceremony for the second year in a row. The award show is seen in over 160 countries, and last year they had nearly 20 million people tune in. The show is produced by Dick Clark Productions in association with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

View full story at GoldenGlobe.com

Categories
HPC News Glendale News Movies/Television Celebrity News

Wanda Sykes is Bringing Back ‘Last Comic Standing’

Wanda Sykes of Push It Productions will be executive producing NBC's 'Last Comic Standing,' which is set to air in summer 2014.
Wanda Sykes of Push It Productions will be executive producing NBC’s ‘Last Comic Standing,’ which is set to air in summer 2014.

HPC News – Hollywood Production Center is currently housing Push It Productions, which is run by the powerful duo Wanda Sykes and Page Hurwitz. Following a three-year absence, NBC is bringing back Last Comic Standing, and Push It Productions is on board to produce the show. Wanda Sykes and Page Hurwitz are attached as executive producers, continuing Hurwitz’s relationship with the series as executive producer from 2006 to 2010.

The eighth season of Last Comic Standing, an unscripted comedic competition series is set to be aired on NBC in the summer of 2014. The show first started in 2003 and ran seven seasons until 2010. The show is being revived, and the network is once again bringing together top comedians from across the country to compete in a series of comedic challenges each week until one comedian is left standing with a development contract with NBC and a television special on Comedy Central.

Push It Productions inked the overall deal with Universal Television’s alternative studio in April. Wanda Syke’s credits include a long stand-up comedy career complete with three Emmy Awards and television work, such as HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, Fox’s The Wanda Sykes Show, Comedy Central’s Wanda Does It. Hurwitz’s own resume includes work on OWN’s The Rosie Show and NBC’s The Marriage Ref.

View full story at The Hollywood Reporter.

Categories
Movies/Television

You Can Now Watch TV on Twitter

Twitter's CEO Dick Costolo is in talks with NBCU and Comcast for the new "See It" feature.
Twitter’s CEO Dick Costolo is in talks with NBCU and Comcast for the new “See It” feature.

NBCUniversal announced last month that they have partnered with Twitter to bring television to the booming social media platform. Expected to begin this month, Comcast engineers created a new feature that will be available to millions of Xfinity customers called “See It.” Twitter users will be able to access TV shows, movies, and sports directly from a tweet, which will give them the option to “See It.” In addition, customers can set their DVR or even buy theater tickets through Fandango. The technology will cover the various NBCU networks including NBC, CNBC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, Oxygen and E!.

This partnership comes amid Twitter’s move towards being the social media platform for television. Twitter compliments the live viewing experience, which has lured Comcast into drawing up a deal. Comcast wants “See It” to be an instant online remote control, which they hope will get the audience even more engaged with what they are watching.

This partnership also brings to light a new forum for advertising. They are hoping that NBCU’s advertising clients will see the benefit of “See It” and lead them to expand their TV and digital sponsorships to Twitter. Comcast and Twitter are already in talks with distribution partners and television networks to use this “See It” feature to promote their content.

Categories
Hollywood News Movies/Television

NBC Orders ‘Growing Ivy’ Pilot

NBC has ordered the pilot 'Growing Ivy,' which will star the mother-daughter duo Susan Sarandon and Eva.
NBC has ordered the pilot ‘Growing Ivy,’ which will star the mother-daughter duo Susan Sarandon and Eva Amurri Martino.

NBC has just ordered a pilot production of a comedy series starring the mother and daughter duo Susan Sarandon and Eva Amurri Martino. Growing Ivy is a comedy based on an original idea from Eva. The show will revolve around Ivy, a Type A personality who craves the stability she lacked in her childhood, and as a way to fix her life she invites her mother to move in with her to fix their relationship. Growing Ivy will be the third time Sarandon and Amurri play mother and daughter onscreen; they first appeared together in the 2002 The Banger Sisters and will also be seen in the upcoming indie film Mother’s Day.

Eva Amurri Martino will be writing the script alongside Will McCormack and his writing-producing partner Rashida Jones. McCormack and Jones will executive produce the comedy via Warner Brothers Television and Martino and Sarandon will be on board as co-executive producers as well. The WBTV duo came together after their work on Celeste and Jesse Forever and are preparing The Revengers for The CW, Stuck for FOX and A to Z for NBC.

The single-camera comedy project Growing Ivy has not started production yet and has not received a premiere date as of yet.

Categories
Hollywood News Movies/Television HPC News

With the Fall Season Comes Fall TV

CBS, NBC and ABC will start their fall TV premieres this week, joining FOX that started last week and the CW that will start next week.
CBS, NBC and ABC will start their fall TV premieres this week, joining FOX that started last week and the CW that will start next week.

This week is kicking off with the majority of networks premiering their new television shows alongside their beloved returners. While Fox had its premiere week last week, the rest of the networks are just catching up. This week CBS, NBC and ABC joined in to round off the big 4 networks for fall television in 2013. The CW network will soon be joining in as well with their premieres starting on October 3rd and continuing into the next week.

What shows should you be looking forward to? If you’ve been up with TV thus far, you’ll understand just how exciting it is for CBS’ How I Met Your Mother to be back for its final season after the Mother was revealed to viewers during last season’s finale. Zooey Deschanel has made her way into everyone’s hearts as the “adorkable” girl in New Girl, and with the new budding romance with Nick, everyone will be tuning in to see if these lovebirds can make it. Other returners garnering buzz are The Big Bang Theory, Nashville and Parks and Recreation.

We know we’re ready to try a new show, and with that we can’t wait for the CW’s The Originals to air. The show is a spin-off of the hit show Vampire Diaries, and is a continuation of the lives of the original vampire family. The Originals is set to premiere Thursday, October 3.

Check out the rest of the television calendar here: http://www.tvguide.com/special/fall-preview/calendar.aspx?wcid=15.

Categories
Movies/Television Celebrity News

The New Faces of ‘SNL’

The new cast for the 39th season of "Saturday Night Live" was revealed this week. The season premiere is Saturday, September 28.
The newest additions to the cast for the 39th season of “Saturday Night Live” was revealed this week. The season premiere is Saturday, September 28.

Saturday Night Live has been on the air since 1975, and they have recently announced exciting information about their newest upcoming season. The 39th season of SNL will be airing on Saturday, September 28, and will be showcasing a group of 6 new castmembers. Beck Bennett, Kyle Mooney, John Milhiser, Noel Wells, Brooks Wheelan and Mike O’Brien will all be appearing on the new season next Saturday. These additions mark the most sweeping changes NBC has made to the show in its 39-season history. The Saturday Night Live premiere will have Tina Fey as the host and will feature Arcade Fire as the musical performance.

While most of these castmembers are all new to SNL, Mike O’Brien has a history with the late-night live television sketch comedy. Mike has been part of the writing department for the past 4 seasons, so he should be very comfortable as the new season starts. Another newcomer, Brook Wheelan was a late add-on, but the Los Angeles-based stand-up comedian is ready for the challenge. The show has a long history of casting stand-ups, such as Norm Macdonald, Colin Quinn and Chris Rock, all of whom had more than enough charisma and wit for the show.

Saturday Night Live also received big news earlier this summer when it was announced that their long-time castmember Seth Meyers was offered to host Late Night on NBC that will be starting in February. It has not been confirmed whether he will be leaving SNL altogether.

Categories
Movies/Television Celebrity News

Carrie Underwood is the New Maria von Trapp

Carrie Underwood and Stephen Moyer star as the newest von Trapps in NBC's live performance of The Sound of Music.
Carrie Underwood and Stephen Moyer star as the newest von Trapps in NBC’s live performance of The Sound of Music.

NBC has announced their special holiday show this winter: The Sound of Music, based on the original Broadway musical. Carrie Underwood will star as Maria von Trapp in the beloved story of a young woman who falls in love with Captain von Trapp and his seven children. This new version will be the faithful adaptation of the original stage musical, in order to retell the story to a whole new generation. The entire show will be broadcast live, which will add a magical twist to the heartwarming story.

This three hour live event will be broadcast on December 5th at 8pm on NBC. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron will executive produce with their resume including Smash, Hairspray and Chicago. Beth McCarthy-Miller and Rob Ashford will serve as directors. Carrie Underwood will be playing Maria von Trapp, and it was recently announced that Stephen Moyer (True Blood) will appear opposite Underwood as Captain von Trapp. Moyer comes into this role after recently wrapping up his character Billy Flynn in the musical production Chicago at the Hollywood Bowl just last month.

Julie Andrews starred in the Tony Award-winning Best Musical in the film version of The Sound of Music and became one of the biggest worldwide box office hits of all time. It also contains a few of the most famous songs ever written for the stage, such as our favorite “Do-Re-Mi” and “My Favorite Things.”

Categories
Hollywood News Movies/Television

Fall TV will Seem Familiar this Year

Fall television is just around the corner and with is comes more spin-offs of our favorite shows.
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland will be one of ABC’s new freshman series that is a spin-off of their current hit,Once Upon a Time.

Fall television is nearing and it is full of great original series. A common trend for networks, however, has been to create spin-offs from previous and current hit series. This trend has been a result of various freshman series that never get a large following, costing the networks thousands of dollars. A spin-off guarantees an already established fan base that will hopefully love the new show as much as they do the original. Here are a few to expect this fall:

ABC premiered Once Upon a Time in 2011 and it is ready to go for its third season later this year, and now to accompany it is Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. The new show takes place in the same magical world as its predecessor, but it will instead be based on the story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

NBC will be premiering Chicago PD, which is a spin-off of Chicago Fire that premiered last year and was a modest hit. This new show is rumored to include the Chicago Police Department as it airs mid-season.

The CW is joining in this new trend as well, with their current wildly popular vampire drama The Vampire Diaries being the parent of a new show this fall, The Originals. The CW’s Arrow is also bringing in a new spin-off that will be based on DC Comic’s Flash. Supernatural will be joining this group as well as writers plant a spin-off in its ninth and final season.