City Culver City Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer I’m balancing on a tightrope, 3,000 feet above the Nordic fjords. As I glance down into the watery abyss, my stomach churns. Then, with a few flicks of my index finger, I’ve ditched Scandinavia for Pangea, where I’m frolicking with velociraptors who come within centimeters of my face to sniff and size me up.

The National Weather Service in Los Angeles/Oxnard just issued a Flash Flood Warning for Southwestern Los Angeles County until 10 p.m. A flash flood warning means flash flooding is in progress, imminent, or highly likely.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Sony Pictures Entertainment is upping its head of television Ravi Ahuja to president and chief operating officer of the entire studio. While not explicitly stated by SPE chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra in his internal memo regarding Ahuja’s appointment to the No.

Carolyn Giardina Postproduction business Harbor–whose recent credits include work on “The Holdovers” and “El Conde”–and sound packaging studio 424 Post have partnered to launch a unique full-service post facility at the Culver Theater (the former Arclight multiplex now owed by Amazon) in Culver City. Most of the cinema’s auditoriums are uniquely equipped with Samsung LED cinema displays rather than traditional cinema projectors. Some stakeholders are exploring the potential of such screens for theatrical exhibition.

Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Chief Communications Officer Robert Lawson is being upped to SVP, Corporate Communications for the entire Sony Group. The new job will bring Lawson, a nine-year vet of the Culver City lot who was a key consigliere during the 2014 cyber-attack, to Sony HQ in Tokyo, Japan, reporting to Sony Group Corp Chairman and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida.

Kaley Cuoco and David Oyelowo are stepping out to promote their new Prime Video movie.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Morrison Hotel Gallery is expanding its archive of rock n’ roll imagery into fine art photography: On January 13, the gallery will launch “The New Wave,” a collection of oceanic imagery inspired by and in association with HBO’s Emmy-winning documentary series “100 Foot Wave,” produced by Amplify Pictures, Library Films, and Topic Studios. Photo: Helio Antonio- Kai Lenny A combination of ocean and music-themed works, “The New Wave Collection” was curated by Morrison Hotel Gallery’s creative director Timothy White and showcases previously unreleased photographs by Tim McKenna, Fred Pompermayer, Helio Antonio, Laurent Masurel, Erik Aeder, and others.

Is it too early for a New Year’s wish? Well, I’m going to make one anyway.

Killers of the Flower Moon,” an exhibit featuring artifacts from the Apple Original film and celebrating the artisans who contributed to its making, is open to the public this weekend from Nov. 17-19, and will reopen following the Thanksgiving holiday. Among the many notable items from the film on display at Apple’s Los Angeles headquarters in Culver City are the wedding outfits worn by Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone; an immersive Osage roundhouse; collections of handmade Pendleton blankets; Stetson hats; a 1928 Chevy Coupe; and select props from the Billiard parlor set.

EXCLUSIVE: Los Angeles-based distributor Orchid Tree Media has acquired North American rights to Anastasia Tsang’s A Light Never Goes Out, which is Hong Kong’s submission for Best International Feature at the Oscars. A theatrical release is being lined up in select cinemas. 

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer It’s been a few years since Bill Adams has worked as an extra. At 85, he doesn’t get called as much as he used to. But for the last three months, he has commuted to the picket lines from his home in Long Beach about once a week.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA are pushing California lawmakers to grant unemployment benefits to striking workers. In California, workers currently do not receive unemployment pay when they are on strike. But state lawmakers are working on a bill, SB 799, that would extend benefits to workers who have been on strike for at least two weeks.

This is Day 129 of the WGA strike and Day 56 of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

The Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA will rally on Thursday at Amazon Studio in Culver City to highlight their push a bill that would provide unemployment insurance to striking workers in California. Striking writers and actors in New York and New Jersey are already eligible to receive unemployment benefits after 14 days on the picket line, but not in California.

Jenelle Riley Deputy Awards and Features Editor A few years ago, Alexis Scheer wrote a play and, by her own admission, figured “it was a little too crazy and weird and nobody would do it.” So she had her own theater company, Off the Grid, mount it in her hometown of Boston in 2018. Called “Our Dear Dead Drug Lord,” the story is set in Miami on the eve of the 2008 election and focuses on four high school girls holding occult rituals to communicate with spirits – specifically that of the late drug lord Pablo Escobar. As it turned out, plenty of others were interested in Scheer’s strange, comic, often magical play.

This is Day 120 of the WGA strike and Day 47 of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

It’s been more than four months since Los Angeles County’s Covid State of Emergency officially ended, and a lot has changed. People have stopped wearing masks, public places are bustling again and even the most cautious public officials have relaxed their rhetoric. Most importantly, unlike the previous three years, there was no significant summer spike in cases. Fall, however, may be a slightly different story.

The cast of Parks and Recreation reunited on the picket line as the stars and crew members came together to fight for a better contract with the studios.

WGA marked 100 days on strike on Aug. 9 with well-attended picket lines in both New York and Los Angeles. The crowd was larger than usual outside Netflix in Los Angeles, where strikers had set up a balloon sign spelling out “100” to mark the occasion.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Henry Deas III, a longtime Variety advertising sales executive who specialized in film festivals and international markets, died Aug. 6 in Culver City. He was 75.

It’s Day 6 of the SAG-AFTRA strike and Day 79 of the WGA strike.

Sony Pictures Entertainment is taking an interim regulatory order against ZEE Entertainment directors Subhash Chandra and Punit Goenka “very seriously,” despite concerns over what it could mean for the two companies’ merger.

Kaia Gerber and Austin Butler were spotted walking her dog in Los Angeles on Friday. This is the first time the couple have been photographed alone together since the Time 100 event on April 27 in New York City. The photos seemed to put to bed rumors that the 21-year-old model and 31-year-old Elvis star are engaged, as it was clear she was not wearing a ring on her left hand.

Mayim Bialik is ending her hosting run a bit early for the current season of Jeopardy!.

“Jeopardy!” has officially become the first game show to be affected by the WGA strike, and it’s all thanks to host Mayim Bialik. TheWrap has learned that the actor has stepped away from the iconic series during its last week of filming so that she can stand in solidarity with the WGA strike.Ken Jennings — the well-known “Jeopardy!” contestant turned host — will be taking over Bialik’s hosting duties. The final episodes of Season 39 will be filmed between Tuesday, May 16 and Friday, May 19.

EXCLUSIVE: Jeopardy! has become one of the first game shows to be impacted by the writers strike.

We love seeing Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer back together!

McKinley Franklin editor Joel McHale showed his support for the Writers Guild of America in a very Joel McHale way: With a series of bad jokes. At City Year Los Angeles’s 12th annual Spring Break: Destination Education event this Saturday, McHale opened up the night series of events by addressing the looming “elephant” in the room at Sony Picture Studios in Culver City. Following an introduction from Tony Vinciquerra, CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, McHale addressed the ongoing writer’s strike in his opening speech. Vinciquerra did not address the strike at the event. 

William Earl “Rain in My Head” was the big winner at the 10th annual Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, taking honors for best film, director Chrissy Marshall and actor Layne Apffel. Also saluted were Nathan Cox, editor for “Smash or Pass”; Rachel Handler, writer, “Unlucky in Love”; and Judith Rubin and “Leap of Love” for best awareness campaign. The winners were announced May 4 at an orange-carpet ceremony and reception at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City.  For the competition, registered filmmakers were given five days within a designated timeframe to write and produce short films (three-to-five minutes) promoting disability inclusion. Every year’s contest has a theme, and this year it was romance, which resulted in a wide range of viewpoints on the topic.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Priyanka Chopra Jonas admits she’d rather not do stunt work if given the choice. “I didn’t want to do my stunts,” she says of her new action-packed spy series, “Citadel.” But the acting veteran is a victim of her own success. “I trust myself to do it,” Chopra Jonas tells me. “The mandate from the filmmakers was, ‘We would love for the actors’ faces to be seen as much as you can and where you feel safe. I’m someone who has tremendous experience with action movies and action parts. Not just with my TV show, but my Bollywood action movies. I was working 15, 20 years ago when I didn’t even have stunt doubles. I had a little man wearing a wig with shaved arms that used to do stunts for me that were too dangerous, because we didn’t even have women at that time. So I learned how to do my stuff.”