Jim Gianopulos Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Peter Caranicas Deputy Editor Moving in parallel with the recent upsurge of film production in Greece, the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF), an annual showcase for new works from Greek filmmakers worldwide, plans to expand its activities on an international scale. The fest, now in its 17th year, is launching the Global Greek Film Initiative (GGFI), an umbrella program to advance cultural exchange between Greece, the U.S. and the Greek diaspora, provide opportunities for employment and economic growth within Greece, and serve as the North American hub for Greek film programs and initiatives.  Lia Bozonelis, a Greek-American writer-producer and LAGFF Board Member who conceived the idea of the year-round multifaceted program, said that “Greece is experiencing a hard-won opportunity with the amount of international production pouring in.”

The USC School of Cinematic Arts has announced that Miky Lee will deliver the 20024 Commencement address.

Chris Petrikin, a former Paramount, Fox and William Morris Agency communications executive, has joined consulting firm Actum LLC as a managing director.

Scott Stuber would take home the trophy for scene-stealing announcement. The company’s long-time (at least by entertainment industry standards) film chief revealed on the eve of the Academy Award nominations that he’s departing the streamer to start a new media company. The news wasn’t a total shock; his exit has been rumored for some time and the well-liked executive had been talking to potential financiers about a solo venture, according to a knowledgeable source.

Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden wrapped up a weekend of fundraising in Los Angeles on Sunday, with a record amount raised.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer President Biden is set to make a whirlwind fundraising tour of Los Angeles this weekend, hitting six or seven events in the course of a day and a half. Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will attend a sold-out fundraiser on Friday night, with co-hosts including Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, Shonda Rhimes, Rob Reiner, Peter Chernin and Jim Gianopulos. Lenny Kravitz is slated to perform.

Lenny Kravitz is scheduled to perform on Friday when President Joe Biden headlines his first reelection fundraiser in Los Angeles, according to the invite.

Travis Knight, president and CEO of animation studio LAIKA, has been appointed to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Board of Trustees. Additionally, the museum announced the appointment of motion picture producer and former chair of the Academy Museum Inclusion Advisory Committee, Effie T.

Deadline’s Most Valuable Blockbuster tournament took a hiatus during the pandemic as movie theaters closed for the majority of 2020-2021 and theatrical day-and-date titles on both the big screen and studios’ respective streaming platforms became more prevalent. Coming back from that brink, the studios have largely returned to their theatrical release models and the downstream monies they can bring. Not to mention their power in launching IPs around the world with big global marketing campaigns. When it comes to evaluating the financial performance of top movies, it isn’t about what a film grosses at the box office. The true tale is told when production budgets, P&A, talent participations and other costs collide with box office grosses, and ancillary revenues from VOD to DVD and TV. To get close to that mysterious end of the equation, Deadline is repeating our Most Valuable Blockbuster tournament for 2022, using data culled by seasoned and trusted sources.

EXCLUSIVE: More changes at Paramount+: Tanya Giles, the streaming platform’s chief programming officer, is leaving after a combined 28 years at Paramount Global and its various iterations. A rep for Paramount+ confirmed Giles’ departure to Deadline, declining further comment. There is no immediate replacement, and Giles’ decision to step down is not part of a restructuring, sources said.

USC School of Cinematic Arts alums Ryan Coogler (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Fruitvale Station) and Tracy Oliver (Girls Trip, Little) have joined the school’s Board of Councilors.

Filmmakers Ryan Coogler and Tracy Oliver are the newest and youngest members of the USC School of Cinematic Arts Board of Councilors.“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” director Coogler graduated from the program in 2011. “Girls Trip” writer Oliver is an alum of the Class of 2010.The Board of Councilors oversees strategic planning, development, and fundraising efforts for the film school.

Amazon Studios, Disney, Fox Corporation, NBCUniversal/Telemundo Enterprises, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery have signed on as Founding Partners of the Roybal Film and Television Production Magnet Fund, which was established by George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Creative Artists Agency’s Bryan Lourd, to support The Roybal Film and Television Production Magnet, a specialized academy created to drive transformational change across the industry by building a more inclusive pipeline of historically underrepresented college- and career-ready students pursuing below-the-line careers in film and television.

EJ Panaligan editorA+E Networks and The History Channel have partnered with the Roybal Film and Television Production Magnet Fund, which was established to support a specialized academy founded in 2021 by George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Bryan Lourd of Creative Artists Agency, to provide educational resources for students from underserved communities in Los Angeles. The academy will welcome its inaugural class this fall.As part of the partnership, A+E Networks President and Chairman Paul Buccieri has joined the Roybal Advisory Board, whose members include Clooney, Heslov and Lourd alongside Kerry Washington, Eva Longoria, Mindy Kaling, Don Cheadle, Nicole Avant, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Jim Gianopulos.

The History Channel/A+E Networks has announced a multi-year partnership with the Roybal Film and Television Production Magnet Fund – a fund created by George Clooney, Grant Heslov and CAA’s Bryan Lourd – to support the Roybal Film and Television Production Magnet school in Los Angeles.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentThe Motion Picture & Television Fund, celebrating its 100th anniversary, might be the most active, admired — and most misunderstood — organization in Hollywood. Silent screen star Mary Pickford started the philanthropic org under the name Motion Picture Relief Fund (it was renamed in 1971).Over the century, entertainment’s biggest heavyweights gave support.

In the switch-off between Paramount studio chief Jim Gianopulos to Brian Robbins, it was buzzed that the studio was on the verge of completely giving into theatrical day-and-date as it looked to fuel its streaming service Paramount+.

James Bond franchise architects Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli have been set to receive the 2022 Pioneer of the Year Award from the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation. The honor will be bestowed September 21 during a ceremony at the Beverly Hilton.

Wilson Chapman editorSeth Willenson, the influential marketing executive and producer of films and home video, died March 18 in Los Angeles, a rep confirmed to Variety. According to their statement, Willenson died from heart disease.

A new report has emerged suggesting that Tom Cruise and Paramount are at odds over the release schedule for Mission: Impossible 7.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterThe race for mayor of Los Angeles has hardly begun, but Karen Bass has already taken a commanding lead among Hollywood donors.Candidates filed their contribution reports on Monday, when showed that Bass has spent much of the last few months winning over the creative community.Donors to her campaign include stars like Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, and Jennifer Garner. They include Hollywood’s most profligate political benefactors, like Jeffrey and Marilyn Katzenberg, J.J. Abrams and Katie McGrath, Alan and Cindy Horn, and Damon and Heidi Lindelof.

Skydance Media, the maker of “The Tomorrow War” and “Mission: Impossible,” will develop and produce a slate of live-action films as part of a new multi-year pact with Apple Original Films.The move between the production company and the tech giant has been rumored for months, with buzz building after Apple and Skydance brokered a similar deal for animated films and series. The news is yet another signal of the shift in power in the entertainment landscape from traditional media companies to streaming giants.Skydance had long been most closely associated with one of those legacy companies in Paramount Pictures.

Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home is expected to cede its No. 1 four-weekend run to Paramount and Spyglass Media’s Scream over the MLK four-day holiday, the latter eyeing a take that’s in the $20 million-plus range at 3,661 theaters.

The reorg comes less than two months after Brian Robbins replaced Jim Gianopulos as the CEO of Paramount, with Weinstock’s promotion to the top marketing spot soon following. Among the branches being integrated into the division are digital marketing, brand marketing & strategy, and data analytics, all of which will now report to Danielle DePalma, EVP Global Marketing.

Paramount has made official what has been buzzing around town since Sunday and that’s former Universal SVP Global Communications Jenny Tartikoff is taking the reins as the Melrose Ave. lot’s new EVP Global Communications in the wake of Brian Robbins being promoted to CEO of the studio. Tartikoff starts on Nov. 15 and will report directly to Robbins.

exited in September after the shakeup at CEO with the departure of Jim Gianopulos by the end of the year. In her role, Tartikoff will oversee all the studio’s corporate communication strategies including media relations, executive and internal communications, and corporate social responsibility.“Jenny is a seasoned and skilled communications executive with broad and deep experience in Hollywood and a strong network of industry relationships,” Robbins said in a statement.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterEmma Watts is out as Paramount’s motion picture group president.Watts exits just over a year in the job, on the heels of her former Fox boss Jim Gianopulos — whose jaw-dropping ouster as Paramount Pictures Chairman and CEO shook up Hollywood in early September.

In what has been heavily expected in the wake of Jim Gianopulos’ departure from Paramount as CEO and Chairman, the studio’s Motion Picture President Emma Watts is leaving the Melrose lot. Deadline has confirmed the news.

EXCLUSIVE: Maggie Levin is currently writing an adaptation of Elsie Chapman’s young adult novel Caster for Paramount. We understand that this deal closed before the announced departure of Paramount Chairman & CEO Jim Gianopulos and the project is in very early development.