News Analysis India

Category: News

  • EXPLAINER: Why Hollywood writers are striking and the immediate impact

    By Associated Press

    LOS ANGELES: The union representing 11,500 writers of film, television and other entertainment forms are now on strike. It’s the first writers’ strike — and the first Hollywood strike of any kind — in 15 years. Here’s a look at the storylines the fight has spawned.Why are the writers striking?Streaming and its ripple effects are at the centre of the dispute. The guild says that even as series budgets have increased, writers’ share of that money has consistently shrunk.Streaming services’ use of smaller staffs — known in the industry as “mini rooms” — for shorter stints has made sustained income harder to come by, the guild says. And the number of writers working at guild minimums has gone from about a third to about half in the past decade.“On TV staffs, more writers are working at a minimum regardless of experience, often for fewer weeks,” the guild said in a March report.The lack of a regular seasonal calendar in streaming has depressed pay further, the report says. And scheduled annual pay bumps under the current contract have fallen well short of increases in inflation.The weekly minimum for a staff writer on a television series in the 2019-2020 season was $4,546, according to industry trade outlet Variety. They work an average of 29 weeks on a network show for $131,834 annually, or an average of 20 weeks on a streaming show for $90,920. For a writer-producer, the figure is $6,967 per week. Writers of comedy-variety shows for streaming have no minimum protections at all, the guild says.The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents Hollywood’s studios, streamers and production companies, says the writers’ demands would require that they be kept on staff and paid when there is no work for them. “If writing needs to be done, writers are hired, but these proposals require the employment of writers whether they’re needed for the creative process or not,” the group said in a document outlining its positions.

    Members of the Writers Guild of America union protest outside the Netflix headquarters near Union Square, Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in New York. (Photo | AP)

    And the AMPTP says its offers included the first-ever minimums for streaming comedy-variety writers.The group also said that writers’ healthcare, child care and pension benefits set them far apart from the “gig economy” workers the writers have compared themselves to.How did we get here?Months of negotiations still left considerable distance between writers and the AMPTP. The Writers Guild of America — whose East and West versions are technically two unions that act as a unit in these negotiations.Talks, which often extend for hours or days past a contract deadline, instead ended hours before the most recent contract expired Monday night. By that point writers, who voted overwhelmingly to authorize their leaders to call a strike, had already begun making signs for picket lines, Which they promptly put to use Tuesday.The AMPTP said that it had offered “generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals,” including the highest first-year wage increase in a WGA contract in more than 25 years, and the creation of a new category of rates that would mean a new, higher minimum for mid-level writers. The group said it was prepared to improve its offers, but the union was asking for so much more than companies were willing to offer that it cut off negotiations hours before the contract expired.What shows will be affected first?Late-night talk shows, heavily dependent on same-day, current-events-based comedy writing, were the first to feel the strike’s effect. The shows have been the de facto frontline during previous writers strikes. NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” ABC’s “ Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and CBS’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” all went immediately into hiatus and will air reruns. James Corden’s Thursday night farewell to his “Late Late Show” was well-timed.“Saturday Night Live,” nearly as dependent on last-minute writing, has already axed this week’s episode with host Pete Davidson. The final two episodes in the season that follow it are in serious jeopardy.Forthcoming awards shows are keeping plans in place for now, but those could easily fall apart.How will the strike affect scripted series and movies?The strike’s impact on scripted series could take far longer to manifest. Noticeable effects on the movie release calendar could take even longer.Shows where writers had begun work on forthcoming seasons — including Showtime’s “Yellowjackets” — have now paused the process, and would have to scramble after the strike to stay on schedule.Production on finished screenplays can proceed as planned (without the benefit of last-minute rewrites). In general, Hollywood’s other unions — including guilds for actors and directors, both of which face expiring deals with AMPTP in the coming months — are forbidden by their contracts to join the current strike and must continue working, though both members and leaders have expressed solidarity with the WGA.

    Writer Saroya Wheatley shouts slogans while picketing with fellow members of The Writers Guild of America outside of Universal Studios Thursday, May 4, 2023, in Universal City, Calif. (Photo | AP)

    Productions, long aware of the looming deadline, sought to wrap before it arrived. FilmLA, which hands out location permits for the Los Angeles area, say that none have been requested for television dramas or sitcoms this week.Depending on their media consumption methods, many viewers and moviegoers may not notice the effects of a strike until long after it’s over, if at all. The menus on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video will look no different next week, but because this would be the first writers’ strike of the streaming era, there is no template for how they will look months down the line.During the last strike, when broadcast and cable networks with well-established seasonal schedules were still predominant, many shows, including “30 Rock,” “CSI,” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” shortened their seasons.What happens now for the writers?The full stop to work will mean major economic losses for screenwriters, though many say it’s worth it to fight the day-to-day dwindling of income.Guild strike rules prevent members from striking new deals, making new pitches, or turning in new scripts. They are allowed to accept payment for any writing that’s already been done.Those known in the industry as “hyphenates,” including showrunners who act as head writer-producers, performer-writers, and people like Quinta Brunson of “Abbot Elementary” who do all the above, are allowed to do the non-writing parts of their jobs under union rules, though that work may be minimal as they seek solidarity with their writing staffs. (At Monday’s Met Gala, Bruson said “I’m a member of the WGA and support WGA and … We, us, us getting what we need. … No one wants a strike, but I hope that we’re able to rectify this, whatever that means”)How previous writers strikes have played out?Writers have gone on strike six times, more than any group in Hollywood.The first came in 1960, a Writers Guild walkout that lasted nearly five months. Strikes followed in 1973, 1981, and 1985. The longest work stoppage, lasting exactly five months, came in 1988.The 2007-2008 strike was resolved after three months. Among the main concessions the writers won were requirements that fledgling streaming shows would have to hire guild writers if their budgets were big enough. It was an early harbinger of nearly every entertainment labour fight in the years that followed.

    LOS ANGELES: The union representing 11,500 writers of film, television and other entertainment forms are now on strike. It’s the first writers’ strike — and the first Hollywood strike of any kind — in 15 years. Here’s a look at the storylines the fight has spawned.Why are the writers striking?
    Streaming and its ripple effects are at the centre of the dispute. The guild says that even as series budgets have increased, writers’ share of that money has consistently shrunk.
    Streaming services’ use of smaller staffs — known in the industry as “mini rooms” — for shorter stints has made sustained income harder to come by, the guild says. And the number of writers working at guild minimums has gone from about a third to about half in the past decade.
    “On TV staffs, more writers are working at a minimum regardless of experience, often for fewer weeks,” the guild said in a March report.
    The lack of a regular seasonal calendar in streaming has depressed pay further, the report says. And scheduled annual pay bumps under the current contract have fallen well short of increases in inflation.
    The weekly minimum for a staff writer on a television series in the 2019-2020 season was $4,546, according to industry trade outlet Variety. They work an average of 29 weeks on a network show for $131,834 annually, or an average of 20 weeks on a streaming show for $90,920. For a writer-producer, the figure is $6,967 per week. Writers of comedy-variety shows for streaming have no minimum protections at all, the guild says.
    The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents Hollywood’s studios, streamers and production companies, says the writers’ demands would require that they be kept on staff and paid when there is no work for them. “If writing needs to be done, writers are hired, but these proposals require the employment of writers whether they’re needed for the creative process or not,” the group said in a document outlining its positions.

    Members of the Writers Guild of America union protest outside the Netflix headquarters near Union Square, Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in New York. (Photo | AP)

    And the AMPTP says its offers included the first-ever minimums for streaming comedy-variety writers.
    The group also said that writers’ healthcare, child care and pension benefits set them far apart from the “gig economy” workers the writers have compared themselves to.How did we get here?
    Months of negotiations still left considerable distance between writers and the AMPTP. The Writers Guild of America — whose East and West versions are technically two unions that act as a unit in these negotiations.
    Talks, which often extend for hours or days past a contract deadline, instead ended hours before the most recent contract expired Monday night. By that point writers, who voted overwhelmingly to authorize their leaders to call a strike, had already begun making signs for picket lines, Which they promptly put to use Tuesday.
    The AMPTP said that it had offered “generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals,” including the highest first-year wage increase in a WGA contract in more than 25 years, and the creation of a new category of rates that would mean a new, higher minimum for mid-level writers. The group said it was prepared to improve its offers, but the union was asking for so much more than companies were willing to offer that it cut off negotiations hours before the contract expired.What shows will be affected first?
    Late-night talk shows, heavily dependent on same-day, current-events-based comedy writing, were the first to feel the strike’s effect. The shows have been the de facto frontline during previous writers strikes. NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” ABC’s “ Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and CBS’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” all went immediately into hiatus and will air reruns. James Corden’s Thursday night farewell to his “Late Late Show” was well-timed.
    “Saturday Night Live,” nearly as dependent on last-minute writing, has already axed this week’s episode with host Pete Davidson. The final two episodes in the season that follow it are in serious jeopardy.
    Forthcoming awards shows are keeping plans in place for now, but those could easily fall apart.How will the strike affect scripted series and movies?
    The strike’s impact on scripted series could take far longer to manifest. Noticeable effects on the movie release calendar could take even longer.
    Shows where writers had begun work on forthcoming seasons — including Showtime’s “Yellowjackets” — have now paused the process, and would have to scramble after the strike to stay on schedule.
    Production on finished screenplays can proceed as planned (without the benefit of last-minute rewrites). In general, Hollywood’s other unions — including guilds for actors and directors, both of which face expiring deals with AMPTP in the coming months — are forbidden by their contracts to join the current strike and must continue working, though both members and leaders have expressed solidarity with the WGA.

    Writer Saroya Wheatley shouts slogans while picketing with fellow members of The Writers Guild of America outside of Universal Studios Thursday, May 4, 2023, in Universal City, Calif. (Photo | AP)

    Productions, long aware of the looming deadline, sought to wrap before it arrived. FilmLA, which hands out location permits for the Los Angeles area, say that none have been requested for television dramas or sitcoms this week.
    Depending on their media consumption methods, many viewers and moviegoers may not notice the effects of a strike until long after it’s over, if at all. The menus on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video will look no different next week, but because this would be the first writers’ strike of the streaming era, there is no template for how they will look months down the line.
    During the last strike, when broadcast and cable networks with well-established seasonal schedules were still predominant, many shows, including “30 Rock,” “CSI,” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” shortened their seasons.What happens now for the writers?
    The full stop to work will mean major economic losses for screenwriters, though many say it’s worth it to fight the day-to-day dwindling of income.
    Guild strike rules prevent members from striking new deals, making new pitches, or turning in new scripts. They are allowed to accept payment for any writing that’s already been done.
    Those known in the industry as “hyphenates,” including showrunners who act as head writer-producers, performer-writers, and people like Quinta Brunson of “Abbot Elementary” who do all the above, are allowed to do the non-writing parts of their jobs under union rules, though that work may be minimal as they seek solidarity with their writing staffs. (At Monday’s Met Gala, Bruson said “I’m a member of the WGA and support WGA and … We, us, us getting what we need. … No one wants a strike, but I hope that we’re able to rectify this, whatever that means”)How previous writers strikes have played out?
    Writers have gone on strike six times, more than any group in Hollywood.
    The first came in 1960, a Writers Guild walkout that lasted nearly five months. Strikes followed in 1973, 1981, and 1985. The longest work stoppage, lasting exactly five months, came in 1988.
    The 2007-2008 strike was resolved after three months. Among the main concessions the writers won were requirements that fledgling streaming shows would have to hire guild writers if their budgets were big enough. It was an early harbinger of nearly every entertainment labour fight in the years that followed.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

  • Miss Universe Australia finalist Sienna Weird dies at 23 following horse riding accident

    By ANI

    MELBOURNE: Miss Universe Australia finalist Sienna Weir died at the age of 23, on May 4, reported E News.

    Sienna passed away after being taken off life support following a horseback riding accident. According to an Australian outlet, Sienna was riding at Windsor Polo Grounds in Sydney on April 2 when her horse fell. She was rushed to Westmead Hospital, where she spent several weeks on life support before her death.

    The beauty queen had a double degree in English literature and psychology from Sydney University and previously told Gold Coast Magazine she had a “deep and unmoving love for show jumping.”

    “My family aren’t quite sure where this passion came from, but I’ve been horse-riding since I was 3 years old and can’t imagine my life without it,” she shared in September. “I travel to rural Sydney two to three times a week to train and compete around New South Wales or broader Australia every other weekend.”

    In the wake of her death, Australian photographer Chris Dwyer–who worked with Sienna on several occasions– took to social media to pay tribute to her. “You were one of the kindest souls in the world, you lit up the room and the world is a lot darker now that you are gone,” he wrote on his Instagram Stories alongside a photo of Sienna. “Hope wherever you are, you’re being the gremlin we all know and love. Miss you so much already.” 

    MELBOURNE: Miss Universe Australia finalist Sienna Weir died at the age of 23, on May 4, reported E News.

    Sienna passed away after being taken off life support following a horseback riding accident. According to an Australian outlet, Sienna was riding at Windsor Polo Grounds in Sydney on April 2 when her horse fell. She was rushed to Westmead Hospital, where she spent several weeks on life support before her death.

    The beauty queen had a double degree in English literature and psychology from Sydney University and previously told Gold Coast Magazine she had a “deep and unmoving love for show jumping.”googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “My family aren’t quite sure where this passion came from, but I’ve been horse-riding since I was 3 years old and can’t imagine my life without it,” she shared in September. “I travel to rural Sydney two to three times a week to train and compete around New South Wales or broader Australia every other weekend.”

    In the wake of her death, Australian photographer Chris Dwyer–who worked with Sienna on several occasions– took to social media to pay tribute to her. “You were one of the kindest souls in the world, you lit up the room and the world is a lot darker now that you are gone,” he wrote on his Instagram Stories alongside a photo of Sienna. “Hope wherever you are, you’re being the gremlin we all know and love. Miss you so much already.” 

  • Tasha Smith joins ‘Bad Boys 4’

    By Express News Service

    Tasha Smith, who is best known for the drama series Empire joins the cast of the fourth instalment in the Bad Boys franchise, Bad Boys 4. The franchise, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as the two leads, revolves around two detectives solving a series of murders. 

    Smith will play Theresa, the wife character of Martin Lawrence, which Theresa Randle earlier performed in the first three Bad Boys films. The first film in the Bad Boys franchise came out in 1995, the second instalment came out seven years later, in 2003, and the third in 2020. Earlier, it was announced that former cast from previous instalments, including Paola Núnez, Vanessa Hudgens and Alexander Ludwig, would also return to reprise their respective roles. 

    Directors Adil El Arbi and Billall Fallah will also return to direct the fourth instalment, while Chris Bemmer will be writing the script. The plot for the fourth instalment is kept under wraps. El Arbi and Fallah served as executive producers of Ms Marvel and recently directed and co-wrote the feature film, Rebel. 

    Meanwhile, Tasha Smith’s popular characters include Ronnie Boyce in HBO’s Emmy-winning series The Corner and Angela in Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married? She has also directed episodes of Our Kind of People, Mayor of Kingstown and Bel-Air.

    Tasha Smith, who is best known for the drama series Empire joins the cast of the fourth instalment in the Bad Boys franchise, Bad Boys 4. The franchise, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as the two leads, revolves around two detectives solving a series of murders. 

    Smith will play Theresa, the wife character of Martin Lawrence, which Theresa Randle earlier performed in the first three Bad Boys films. The first film in the Bad Boys franchise came out in 1995, the second instalment came out seven years later, in 2003, and the third in 2020. Earlier, it was announced that former cast from previous instalments, including Paola Núnez, Vanessa Hudgens and Alexander Ludwig, would also return to reprise their respective roles. 

    Directors Adil El Arbi and Billall Fallah will also return to direct the fourth instalment, while Chris Bemmer will be writing the script. The plot for the fourth instalment is kept under wraps. El Arbi and Fallah served as executive producers of Ms Marvel and recently directed and co-wrote the feature film, Rebel. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Meanwhile, Tasha Smith’s popular characters include Ronnie Boyce in HBO’s Emmy-winning series The Corner and Angela in Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married? She has also directed episodes of Our Kind of People, Mayor of Kingstown and Bel-Air.

  • Jury finds Ed Sheeran didn’t copy Marvin Gaye classic

    By Associated Press

    NEW YORK: British singer Ed Sheeran didn’t steal key components of Marvin Gaye’s classic 1970s tune “Let’s Get It On” to create his hit song “Thinking Out Loud,” a jury said with a trial verdict Thursday, prompting Sheeran to joke later that he won’t have to follow through on his threat to quit music.

    The emotions of an epic copyright fight that stretched across most of the last decade spilt out as soon as the seven-person jury revealed its verdict after over two hours of deliberations.

    Sheeran, 32, briefly dropped his face into his hands in relief before standing to hug his attorney, Ilene Farkas. As jurors left the courtroom in front of him, Sheeran smiled, nodded his head at several of them, and mouthed the words: “Thank you.” Later, he posed for a hallway photograph with a juror who lingered behind.

    He also approached plaintiff Kathryn Townsend Griffin, the daughter of Ed Townsend, who co-created the 1973 soul classic with Gaye and had testified. They spoke for about 10 minutes, hugging and smiling and, at one point, clasping their hands together.

    Sheeran later addressed reporters outside the courthouse, revisiting his claim made during the trial that he would consider quitting songwriting if he lost the case.

    “I am obviously very happy with the outcome of this case, and it looks like I’m not going to have to retire from my day job, after all. But at the same time, I am unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all,” the singer said, reading from a prepared statement.

    He also said he missed his grandmother’s funeral in Ireland because of the trial, and that he “will never get that time back.”

    ALSO READ | Ed Sheeran announces new album Subtract, reveals wife developed tumour in pregnancy

    Inside the courthouse after the verdict, Griffin said she was relieved. “I’m just glad it’s over,” she said of the trial. “We can be friends.”

    She said she was pleased Sheeran approached her. “It showed me who he was,” Griffin said.

    She said her copyright lawsuit wasn’t personal but she wanted to follow through on a promise to her father to protect his intellectual property.

    A juror, Sophia Neis, told reporters afterward that there was no immediate consensus when deliberations began.

    “Everyone had opinions going in. Both sides had advocated, said Neis, 23. “There was a lot of back and forth.”

    The verdict capped a two-week trial that featured a courtroom performance by Sheeran as the singer insisted, sometimes angrily, that the trial was a threat to all musicians who create their own music.

    Sheeran sat with his legal team throughout the trial, defending himself against the lawsuit by Townsend’s heirs, who had said “Thinking Out Loud” had so many similarities to “Let’s Get It On” that it violated the song’s copyright protection.

    It was not the first court victory for a singer whose musical style draws from classic soul, pop and R&B, making him a target for copyright lawsuits. A year ago, Sheeran won a U.K. copyright battle over his 2017 hit “Shape of You” and then decried what he labelled a “culture” of baseless lawsuits that force settlements from artists eager to avoid a trial’s expense.

    Outside court, Sheeran said he doesn’t want to be taken advantage of.

    “I am just a guy with a guitar who loves writing music for people to enjoy,” he said. “I am not and will never allow myself to be a piggy bank for anyone to shake.”

    At the trial’s start, attorney Ben Crump told jurors on behalf of the Townsend heirs that Sheeran himself sometimes performed the two songs together. The jury saw the video of a concert in Switzerland in which Sheeran can be heard segueing on stage between “Let’s Get It On” and “Thinking Out Loud.” Crump said it was “smoking gun” proof Sheeran stole from the famous tune.

    In her closing argument on Wednesday, Farkas said Crump’s “smoking gun was shooting blanks.”

    She said the only common elements between the two songs were “basic to the tool kit of all songwriters” and “the scaffolding on which all songwriting is built.”

    “They did not copy it. Not consciously. Not unconsciously. Not at all,” Farkas said.

    When Sheeran testified over two days for the defense, he repeatedly picked up a guitar resting behind him on the witness stand to demonstrate how he seamlessly creates “mashups” of two or three songs during concerts to “spice it up a bit” for his sizeable crowds.

    The English pop star’s cheerful attitude on display under questioning from his attorney all but vanished under cross-examination.

    “When you write songs, somebody comes after you,” Sheeran testified, saying the case was being closely watched by others in the industry.

    He insisted that he and the song’s co-writer — Amy Wadge — stole nothing from “Let’s Get it On.”

    Townsend’s heirs said in their lawsuit that “Thinking Out Loud” had “striking similarities” and “overt common elements” that made it obvious that it had copied “Let’s Get It On,” a song that has been featured in numerous films and commercials and scored hundreds of millions of streams spins and radio plays in the past half-century.

    Sheeran’s song, which came out in 2014, was a hit, winning a Grammy for Song of the Year.

    Sheeran’s label, Atlantic Records, and Sony/ATV Music Publishing were also named as defendants in the “Thinking Out Loud” lawsuit, but the focus of the trial was Sheeran.

    Wadge, who was not a defendant, testified on his behalf and hugged Sheeran after the verdict.

    Gaye was killed in 1984 at age 44, shot by his father as he tried to intervene in a fight between his parents. He had been a Motown superstar since the 1960s, although his songs released in the 1970s made him a generational musical giant.

    Townsend, who also wrote the 1958 R&B doo-wop hit “For Your Love,” was a singer, songwriter and lawyer who died in 2003. Griffin, his daughter, testified during the trial that she thought Sheeran was “a great artist with a great future.”

    NEW YORK: British singer Ed Sheeran didn’t steal key components of Marvin Gaye’s classic 1970s tune “Let’s Get It On” to create his hit song “Thinking Out Loud,” a jury said with a trial verdict Thursday, prompting Sheeran to joke later that he won’t have to follow through on his threat to quit music.

    The emotions of an epic copyright fight that stretched across most of the last decade spilt out as soon as the seven-person jury revealed its verdict after over two hours of deliberations.

    Sheeran, 32, briefly dropped his face into his hands in relief before standing to hug his attorney, Ilene Farkas. As jurors left the courtroom in front of him, Sheeran smiled, nodded his head at several of them, and mouthed the words: “Thank you.” Later, he posed for a hallway photograph with a juror who lingered behind.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    He also approached plaintiff Kathryn Townsend Griffin, the daughter of Ed Townsend, who co-created the 1973 soul classic with Gaye and had testified. They spoke for about 10 minutes, hugging and smiling and, at one point, clasping their hands together.

    Sheeran later addressed reporters outside the courthouse, revisiting his claim made during the trial that he would consider quitting songwriting if he lost the case.

    “I am obviously very happy with the outcome of this case, and it looks like I’m not going to have to retire from my day job, after all. But at the same time, I am unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all,” the singer said, reading from a prepared statement.

    He also said he missed his grandmother’s funeral in Ireland because of the trial, and that he “will never get that time back.”

    ALSO READ | Ed Sheeran announces new album Subtract, reveals wife developed tumour in pregnancy

    Inside the courthouse after the verdict, Griffin said she was relieved. “I’m just glad it’s over,” she said of the trial. “We can be friends.”

    She said she was pleased Sheeran approached her. “It showed me who he was,” Griffin said.

    She said her copyright lawsuit wasn’t personal but she wanted to follow through on a promise to her father to protect his intellectual property.

    A juror, Sophia Neis, told reporters afterward that there was no immediate consensus when deliberations began.

    “Everyone had opinions going in. Both sides had advocated, said Neis, 23. “There was a lot of back and forth.”

    The verdict capped a two-week trial that featured a courtroom performance by Sheeran as the singer insisted, sometimes angrily, that the trial was a threat to all musicians who create their own music.

    Sheeran sat with his legal team throughout the trial, defending himself against the lawsuit by Townsend’s heirs, who had said “Thinking Out Loud” had so many similarities to “Let’s Get It On” that it violated the song’s copyright protection.

    It was not the first court victory for a singer whose musical style draws from classic soul, pop and R&B, making him a target for copyright lawsuits. A year ago, Sheeran won a U.K. copyright battle over his 2017 hit “Shape of You” and then decried what he labelled a “culture” of baseless lawsuits that force settlements from artists eager to avoid a trial’s expense.

    Outside court, Sheeran said he doesn’t want to be taken advantage of.

    “I am just a guy with a guitar who loves writing music for people to enjoy,” he said. “I am not and will never allow myself to be a piggy bank for anyone to shake.”

    At the trial’s start, attorney Ben Crump told jurors on behalf of the Townsend heirs that Sheeran himself sometimes performed the two songs together. The jury saw the video of a concert in Switzerland in which Sheeran can be heard segueing on stage between “Let’s Get It On” and “Thinking Out Loud.” Crump said it was “smoking gun” proof Sheeran stole from the famous tune.

    In her closing argument on Wednesday, Farkas said Crump’s “smoking gun was shooting blanks.”

    She said the only common elements between the two songs were “basic to the tool kit of all songwriters” and “the scaffolding on which all songwriting is built.”

    “They did not copy it. Not consciously. Not unconsciously. Not at all,” Farkas said.

    When Sheeran testified over two days for the defense, he repeatedly picked up a guitar resting behind him on the witness stand to demonstrate how he seamlessly creates “mashups” of two or three songs during concerts to “spice it up a bit” for his sizeable crowds.

    The English pop star’s cheerful attitude on display under questioning from his attorney all but vanished under cross-examination.

    “When you write songs, somebody comes after you,” Sheeran testified, saying the case was being closely watched by others in the industry.

    He insisted that he and the song’s co-writer — Amy Wadge — stole nothing from “Let’s Get it On.”

    Townsend’s heirs said in their lawsuit that “Thinking Out Loud” had “striking similarities” and “overt common elements” that made it obvious that it had copied “Let’s Get It On,” a song that has been featured in numerous films and commercials and scored hundreds of millions of streams spins and radio plays in the past half-century.

    Sheeran’s song, which came out in 2014, was a hit, winning a Grammy for Song of the Year.

    Sheeran’s label, Atlantic Records, and Sony/ATV Music Publishing were also named as defendants in the “Thinking Out Loud” lawsuit, but the focus of the trial was Sheeran.

    Wadge, who was not a defendant, testified on his behalf and hugged Sheeran after the verdict.

    Gaye was killed in 1984 at age 44, shot by his father as he tried to intervene in a fight between his parents. He had been a Motown superstar since the 1960s, although his songs released in the 1970s made him a generational musical giant.

    Townsend, who also wrote the 1958 R&B doo-wop hit “For Your Love,” was a singer, songwriter and lawyer who died in 2003. Griffin, his daughter, testified during the trial that she thought Sheeran was “a great artist with a great future.”

  • Cannes Film Festival 2023 unveils jury list

    By Express News Service

    The Cannes jury class of 2023 was unveiled. According to Variety, the festival jury is led by Triangle of Sadness director and 2022 Palme d’Or winner Ruben Ostlund. The jury includes actors Paul Dano and Brie Larson, Moroccan director Maryam Touzani, French actor Denis Menochet, British-Zambian screenwriter and director Rungano Nyoni, Afghan author Atiq Rahimi, Argentinian director and screenwriter Damian Szifron and director Julia Ducournau, who won the Palme d’Or in 2021 for her film Titane.

    The reports also note that one of the 21 films playing in the competition will be presented the Palme d’Or award on May 27 at the festival’s closing ceremony.It may be noted that Ostlund’s selection as jury president was announced by Cannes on February 27. And the full list was unveiled a couple of months later.

    The Cannes jury class of 2023 was unveiled. According to Variety, the festival jury is led by Triangle of Sadness director and 2022 Palme d’Or winner Ruben Ostlund. The jury includes actors Paul Dano and Brie Larson, Moroccan director Maryam Touzani, French actor Denis Menochet, British-Zambian screenwriter and director Rungano Nyoni, Afghan author Atiq Rahimi, Argentinian director and screenwriter Damian Szifron and director Julia Ducournau, who won the Palme d’Or in 2021 for her film Titane.

    The reports also note that one of the 21 films playing in the competition will be presented the Palme d’Or award on May 27 at the festival’s closing ceremony.It may be noted that Ostlund’s selection as jury president was announced by Cannes on February 27. And the full list was unveiled a couple of months later.

  • This May the Fourth, late actress Carrie Fisher gets Walk of Fame star

    By Associated Press

    LOS ANGELES: Carrie Fisher is receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a May the Fourth tribute to one of the “Star Wars” franchise’s most beloved figures.

    On Thursday, Fisher — who died in 2016 — joins “Star Wars” co-stars Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill on the Hollywood tourist attraction that recognizes luminaries from film, television, music and other entertainment industries.

    The trio’s stars are all located on the 6,800 block of Hollywood Boulevard, near where the original film debuted in 1977.

    Fisher played Leia Organa, who over six films morphed from a princess to a general leading the forces of good in its fight against oppressive regimes aiming to control a galaxy far, far away. Billie Lourd will be accepting the star on behalf of her mother.

    Fans have long campaigned for her to receive a Walk of Fame star. The honour comes on May the Fourth, essentially an official holiday for Star Wars fans; it’s a play on a line, “May the Force be with you” that Fisher has said often in the films.

    Devotees worldwide celebrate with a variety of tributes, while retailers hold special sales on Star Wars merchandise.

    The induction ceremony will be held at 11:30 a.m. Pacific and live-streamed by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

    Fisher will be given the 2,754th star on the Walk of Fame. Ford received his star in 2003 and Hamill was honored in 2018.

    Walk of Fame stars are given to performers who are nominated and a $75,000 fee is now required to create the star and maintain it.

    LOS ANGELES: Carrie Fisher is receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a May the Fourth tribute to one of the “Star Wars” franchise’s most beloved figures.

    On Thursday, Fisher — who died in 2016 — joins “Star Wars” co-stars Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill on the Hollywood tourist attraction that recognizes luminaries from film, television, music and other entertainment industries.

    The trio’s stars are all located on the 6,800 block of Hollywood Boulevard, near where the original film debuted in 1977.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Fisher played Leia Organa, who over six films morphed from a princess to a general leading the forces of good in its fight against oppressive regimes aiming to control a galaxy far, far away. Billie Lourd will be accepting the star on behalf of her mother.

    Fans have long campaigned for her to receive a Walk of Fame star. The honour comes on May the Fourth, essentially an official holiday for Star Wars fans; it’s a play on a line, “May the Force be with you” that Fisher has said often in the films.

    Devotees worldwide celebrate with a variety of tributes, while retailers hold special sales on Star Wars merchandise.

    The induction ceremony will be held at 11:30 a.m. Pacific and live-streamed by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

    Fisher will be given the 2,754th star on the Walk of Fame. Ford received his star in 2003 and Hamill was honored in 2018.

    Walk of Fame stars are given to performers who are nominated and a $75,000 fee is now required to create the star and maintain it.

  • Michael Douglas to receive honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival 

    By PTI

    CANNES: Veteran Hollywood star Michael Douglas will be felicitated with an honorary Palme d’Or at the 76th Cannes Film Festival.

    Douglas will be recognised for his brilliant career as well as his contribution to cinema, the festival organisers said in a statement.

    The festival will pay tribute to the 78-year-old actor during the opening ceremony on May 16.

    It’s an honour to return to the prestigious film gala and attend the opening ceremony, said Douglas, who has delivered hits such as “The China Syndrome”, “Wall Street”, “Fatal Attraction”, “Basic Instinct” and “Behind the Candelabra” in his career of over 50 years.

    “It is always a breath of fresh air to be at Cannes, which has long provided a wonderful platform for bold creators, artistic audacities and excellence in storytelling,” the actor said.

    “From my first time here in 1979 for ‘The China Syndrome’ to my most recent premiere for ‘Behind the Candelabra’ in 2013, the Festival has always reminded me that the magic of cinema is not just in what we see onscreen but in its ability to impact people all around the world,” he added.

    To complete the tribute to Douglas, a previously unreleased documentary, titled “Michael Douglas, The Prodigal Son”, will be shown on the festival site for two days, from May 14 to 16.

    The 2023 edition of the Cannes Film Festival will run from May 16 to 27.

    CANNES: Veteran Hollywood star Michael Douglas will be felicitated with an honorary Palme d’Or at the 76th Cannes Film Festival.

    Douglas will be recognised for his brilliant career as well as his contribution to cinema, the festival organisers said in a statement.

    The festival will pay tribute to the 78-year-old actor during the opening ceremony on May 16.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    It’s an honour to return to the prestigious film gala and attend the opening ceremony, said Douglas, who has delivered hits such as “The China Syndrome”, “Wall Street”, “Fatal Attraction”, “Basic Instinct” and “Behind the Candelabra” in his career of over 50 years.

    “It is always a breath of fresh air to be at Cannes, which has long provided a wonderful platform for bold creators, artistic audacities and excellence in storytelling,” the actor said.

    “From my first time here in 1979 for ‘The China Syndrome’ to my most recent premiere for ‘Behind the Candelabra’ in 2013, the Festival has always reminded me that the magic of cinema is not just in what we see onscreen but in its ability to impact people all around the world,” he added.

    To complete the tribute to Douglas, a previously unreleased documentary, titled “Michael Douglas, The Prodigal Son”, will be shown on the festival site for two days, from May 14 to 16.

    The 2023 edition of the Cannes Film Festival will run from May 16 to 27.

  • Indian-American director to helm film about ‘gun crises in the United States’

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: Poppy Delevingne will star in ‘The Gun on Second Street’, a new drama from the Emmy-nominated Indian-American writer, producer and director Rohit Karn Batra, reports ‘Variety’.

    The film is described as “an allegory of the gun crisis in the United States”. Its plot follows two Pittsburgh police partners and best friends who are called to an uneventful domestic violence dispute on Second Street.

    This, according to ‘Variety’, quickly escalates to a violent confrontation as Officer TJ Meadows III shoots and kills his partner, Officer Kevin Cooper, with his backup gun.

    Years later, no longer a cop and still traumatised, Meadows moves back to Pittsburgh and finds his way to his partner’s widow, Kacie (Delevingne). They slowly fall in love as Kacie confronts the history she’s been avoiding, including telling her 15-year-old son, Ralph, TJ’s back story.

    The film, adds ‘Variety’, is produced by Guy J. Louthan of Ransom Films with Rikin Shah serving as one of the executive producers. It will be introduced to buyers at the Cannes Film Festival this month. Casting is now underway.

    Delevingne most recently starred in Sky TV’s ‘Riviera’. Prior to that, she starred opposite Antonio Banderas in NatGeo’s ‘Genius: Picasso’. She can also be seen on the big screen in Fox’s ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ directed by Matthew Vaughan and Guy Ritchie’s ‘King Arthur: Legend of the Sword’ starring Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law and Eric Bana for Warner Brothers, notes ‘Variety’.

    Batra directed (his first film), wrote, and — together with Louthan — produced the 2019 international crime drama ‘Line of Descent’ starring Brendan Fraser, Abhay Deol, Neeraj Kabi, Bollywood veteran Prem Chopra and Gopal Datt. Previously, his ‘Roundabout’ won the Jury Prize at the Palm Beach International Film Festival for Best Short Film.

    Louthan is president of Ransom Films and the producer behind ‘The Call’ and ‘The Road Within’. His streaming television credits include Netflix’s ‘From Scratch’ starring Zoe Saldana and Danielle Deadwyler; Amazon Prime Video’s ‘The Wilds’; and ‘Tut’ starring Ben Kingsley, adds ‘Variety’.

    Louthan, incidentally, had produced Roland Joffe’s ‘The Lovers’, which was filmed in India in 2013. The romance drama starred Josh Hartnett and Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu.

    LOS ANGELES: Poppy Delevingne will star in ‘The Gun on Second Street’, a new drama from the Emmy-nominated Indian-American writer, producer and director Rohit Karn Batra, reports ‘Variety’.

    The film is described as “an allegory of the gun crisis in the United States”. Its plot follows two Pittsburgh police partners and best friends who are called to an uneventful domestic violence dispute on Second Street.

    This, according to ‘Variety’, quickly escalates to a violent confrontation as Officer TJ Meadows III shoots and kills his partner, Officer Kevin Cooper, with his backup gun.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Years later, no longer a cop and still traumatised, Meadows moves back to Pittsburgh and finds his way to his partner’s widow, Kacie (Delevingne). They slowly fall in love as Kacie confronts the history she’s been avoiding, including telling her 15-year-old son, Ralph, TJ’s back story.

    The film, adds ‘Variety’, is produced by Guy J. Louthan of Ransom Films with Rikin Shah serving as one of the executive producers. It will be introduced to buyers at the Cannes Film Festival this month. Casting is now underway.

    Delevingne most recently starred in Sky TV’s ‘Riviera’. Prior to that, she starred opposite Antonio Banderas in NatGeo’s ‘Genius: Picasso’. She can also be seen on the big screen in Fox’s ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ directed by Matthew Vaughan and Guy Ritchie’s ‘King Arthur: Legend of the Sword’ starring Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law and Eric Bana for Warner Brothers, notes ‘Variety’.

    Batra directed (his first film), wrote, and — together with Louthan — produced the 2019 international crime drama ‘Line of Descent’ starring Brendan Fraser, Abhay Deol, Neeraj Kabi, Bollywood veteran Prem Chopra and Gopal Datt. Previously, his ‘Roundabout’ won the Jury Prize at the Palm Beach International Film Festival for Best Short Film.

    Louthan is president of Ransom Films and the producer behind ‘The Call’ and ‘The Road Within’. His streaming television credits include Netflix’s ‘From Scratch’ starring Zoe Saldana and Danielle Deadwyler; Amazon Prime Video’s ‘The Wilds’; and ‘Tut’ starring Ben Kingsley, adds ‘Variety’.

    Louthan, incidentally, had produced Roland Joffe’s ‘The Lovers’, which was filmed in India in 2013. The romance drama starred Josh Hartnett and Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu.

  • ‘Loneliness is the centre of Guardians of the Galaxy’

    Express News Service

    In 2012, at the height of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s popularity, Kevin Feige took the stage at the San Diego Comic-Con and announced that they would next be making a film about a talking raccoon and a sentient tree. Of course, there were some understandable concerns that it would spell the beginning of the end for the franchise. 11 years after first meeting this ragtag group of space mercenaries, director James Gunn is back with the third instalment of the much-loved franchise.

    While it has been confirmed that the upcoming film will end the story for this group of Guardians, Gunn reveals that the trilogy has always been about Rocket Racoon. “Having Rocket at the heart of this story was always my intention,” he says, before elaborating, “This is a little animal who was taken and turned into something he shouldn’t be and felt completely ostracised and alienated from every other life form in the galaxy and was angry because of that, and he is angry because he’s really scared. That loneliness is the centre of Guardians of the Galaxy.”

    However, loneliness isn’t necessarily always about being alone. Sometimes, overcoming depressing feelings of loneliness could just be about learning to be by yourself in peace. Gunn is tackling that facet of loneliness as well, as evinced by Chris Pratt’s answer to what Star-Lord aka Peter Quill goes through in Volume 3. “In the first movie, he was a young man learning to care about something other than himself. And then the second film was about Quill wanting to learn more about himself. I think the arc of the third movie is Quill learning to be okay on his own and learning.”

    Gunn reiterates that point succinctly by saying, “The first film is the story of the mother, the second film is the story of the father, and this film is the story of the self.” A major part of Chris Pratt’s character was tied to his relationship with Gamora, played by Zoe Saldana in the film. After her character was killed by Thanos in Avengers: Endgame and a version of Gamora from the past was brought to the present, fans were left wondering how the character, who now has no memory of her love for Peter Quill, was going to be handled in the third film.

    However, Pratt manages to assuage fears regarding Gamora’s treatment in the film. “Gamora is one of the best-written characters I’ve ever seen, and I love the arc that she goes through in this third instalment. It will really flip people on their heads and defy their expectations as to how you should end a trilogy with two people who have been in love before.”

    According to the director, GOTG Vol.3 will be more emotional than the previous films, and while endings are always emotional in a story, the heaviness of its closure has affected the cast as well. Chris Pratt says, “The fact that I get to be part of something that’s just so universally loved and will be living on screens long after I’m no longer living on this planet, is remarkable.”  

    While the rest of the cast has echoed Pratt’s feelings numerous times, GOTG Vol.3 might be a tad bit more personal to one man, more than the others, and that is its writer-director James Gunn, revealing that Racoon carries a part of him. 

    In 2012, at the height of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s popularity, Kevin Feige took the stage at the San Diego Comic-Con and announced that they would next be making a film about a talking raccoon and a sentient tree. Of course, there were some understandable concerns that it would spell the beginning of the end for the franchise. 11 years after first meeting this ragtag group of space mercenaries, director James Gunn is back with the third instalment of the much-loved franchise.

    While it has been confirmed that the upcoming film will end the story for this group of Guardians, Gunn reveals that the trilogy has always been about Rocket Racoon. “Having Rocket at the heart of this story was always my intention,” he says, before elaborating, “This is a little animal who was taken and turned into something he shouldn’t be and felt completely ostracised and alienated from every other life form in the galaxy and was angry because of that, and he is angry because he’s really scared. That loneliness is the centre of Guardians of the Galaxy.”

    However, loneliness isn’t necessarily always about being alone. Sometimes, overcoming depressing feelings of loneliness could just be about learning to be by yourself in peace. Gunn is tackling that facet of loneliness as well, as evinced by Chris Pratt’s answer to what Star-Lord aka Peter Quill goes through in Volume 3. “In the first movie, he was a young man learning to care about something other than himself. And then the second film was about Quill wanting to learn more about himself. I think the arc of the third movie is Quill learning to be okay on his own and learning.”googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Gunn reiterates that point succinctly by saying, “The first film is the story of the mother, the second film is the story of the father, and this film is the story of the self.” A major part of Chris Pratt’s character was tied to his relationship with Gamora, played by Zoe Saldana in the film. After her character was killed by Thanos in Avengers: Endgame and a version of Gamora from the past was brought to the present, fans were left wondering how the character, who now has no memory of her love for Peter Quill, was going to be handled in the third film.

    However, Pratt manages to assuage fears regarding Gamora’s treatment in the film. “Gamora is one of the best-written characters I’ve ever seen, and I love the arc that she goes through in this third instalment. It will really flip people on their heads and defy their expectations as to how you should end a trilogy with two people who have been in love before.”

    According to the director, GOTG Vol.3 will be more emotional than the previous films, and while endings are always emotional in a story, the heaviness of its closure has affected the cast as well. Chris Pratt says, “The fact that I get to be part of something that’s just so universally loved and will be living on screens long after I’m no longer living on this planet, is remarkable.”  

    While the rest of the cast has echoed Pratt’s feelings numerous times, GOTG Vol.3 might be a tad bit more personal to one man, more than the others, and that is its writer-director James Gunn, revealing that Racoon carries a part of him. 

  • Danny Trejo, Veronica Falcon join American Underdog

    By Express News Service

    Upcoming Indie sports drama American Underdog has added Danny Trejo and Veronica Falcón to its cast. The production of this film, which marks the feature directorial debut of  Peruvian-American filmmaker Gustavo Martin, is currently underway in Chicago. Vishy Ayyar and Andrew Gray will lead American Underdog.

    With Ayyar as the film’s protagonist, Jai, American Underdog will tell his story, as an ex-con. Outside circumstances pit Jai against the fierce opponent, Marcus (Gray), when he goes on a soulful path wrestling with personal redemption. Falcón will be seen as Marcella, a local gym owner and community legend who guides Jai in his return to fighting.

    Trejo, on the other hand, will essay Dennis, who steps out of retirement, rather reluctantly, to train his former protege. Sulekha Mathew, Taylor Treadwell, Omi Vaidya, Ranjita Chakravarthy, and Jaspal Binning round off the cast of American Underdog.  

    Upcoming Indie sports drama American Underdog has added Danny Trejo and Veronica Falcón to its cast. The production of this film, which marks the feature directorial debut of  Peruvian-American filmmaker Gustavo Martin, is currently underway in Chicago. Vishy Ayyar and Andrew Gray will lead American Underdog.

    With Ayyar as the film’s protagonist, Jai, American Underdog will tell his story, as an ex-con. Outside circumstances pit Jai against the fierce opponent, Marcus (Gray), when he goes on a soulful path wrestling with personal redemption. Falcón will be seen as Marcella, a local gym owner and community legend who guides Jai in his return to fighting.

    Trejo, on the other hand, will essay Dennis, who steps out of retirement, rather reluctantly, to train his former protege. Sulekha Mathew, Taylor Treadwell, Omi Vaidya, Ranjita Chakravarthy, and Jaspal Binning round off the cast of American Underdog. 
     googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });