Media Writera: Last News

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA Los Angeles judge on Monday ruled to limit the amount of information that could be obtained by Harvey Weinstein’s defense team for his upcoming trial on 11 counts of rape and sexual assault.Judge Lisa B. Lench approved the prosecution’s motion to quash subpoenas from four witnesses for their correspondence, including personal emails and texts dating as far back as 2004, with one of the alleged victims (referred to as Jane Doe #4).

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA developer announced plans Monday to build a studio facility with 16 soundstages in the heart of the Los Angeles Arts District.East End Studios filed an application to construct the facility, which also includes four office buildings, on a 15-acre site at the corner of 6th and Alameda streets. The announcement comes amid a boom in development of new production facilities in L.A., to keep up with demand fueled by broadcast TV and streaming services.The East End project is expected to take about four years to complete — two years for development approvals and two years for construction.Paul Audley, the president of FilmLA, said he hoped the project — and others in the planning stages — could move quickly. He said that in the past, L.A.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA judge in Santa Maria, Calif., on Tuesday dismissed a rape case against film producer David Guillod, weeks after another judge threw out most of the charges against him.Guillod was accused of raping or sexually assaulting six women, including actress Jessica Barth. But after a 10-day preliminary hearing in May, Judge James K. Voysey found that the accusations of four of the women were not credible enough to go to trial.Voysey took note of text messages in which one alleged victim said, after the alleged rape, that she was looking forward to “dinner and some cuddles” with Guillod.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA Virginia judge on Tuesday denied Johnny Depp’s motion to dismiss Amber Heard’s counterclaim, ruling that the issue should be decided by the jury.The counterclaim alleges that Depp’s attorney, Adam Waldman, defamed Heard and damaged her career when he accused her and her friends of perpetrating an “abuse hoax.” Heard’s side rested their case Tuesday morning, prompting Depp’s team to make the routine motion to dismiss the claim.Depp’s attorney, Ben Chew, argued that Waldman was offering his opinion, and that therefore he cannot have committed defamation. Chew also argued that there is no evidence that Depp saw or knew about Waldman’s statements until the counterclaim was filed.“He did believe, and will to his dying day, that Ms. Heard’s claims of abuse were patently false,” Chew said.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association sued the organization on Wednesday, claiming he was sexually harassed and called a “terrorist” and an “angry Arab” by members of the group.Husam “Sam” Asi is a presenter on BBC Arabic, and has been a member of the HFPA since 2010. He was put on probation in February after The Wrap reported that three women had accused him of sexual misconduct.In the lawsuit, Asi says that the allegations against him are false, and that they were “weaponized” by the HFPA to retaliate against him for holding the leadership accountable.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA Los Angeles judge ruled on Wednesday that five additional witnesses will be allowed to testify against Harvey Weinstein at his upcoming rape trial, but excluded testimony from actresses Rose McGowan and Daryl Hannah.Prosecutors wanted to call 15 witnesses to testify about the producer’s “prior bad acts,” but the judge excluded 10 of them.The judge will also allow jurors to be told of Weinstein’s New York conviction involving the sexual assault of Miriam Haley, though Haley will not be called to testify in Los Angeles.Weinstein is facing 11 counts of rape and sexual assault pertaining to five alleged victims. The prosecution wants to call the additional witnesses to show that Weinstein had a propensity to commit sex crimes.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA psychologist told jurors Tuesday that Amber Heard suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder due to physical and sexual abuse at the hands of ex-husband Johnny Depp.Dawn Hughes testified that she had diagnosed Heard after examining her for 29 hours and reviewing therapy records, and that she had concluded that Depp engaged in a “high degree of violence.” Hughes recounted numerous instances of alleged sexual violence, which she said were motivated by Depp’s “obsessive jealousy” and a desire to show dominance.Hughes was the first witness called by Heard’s attorneys, as they began their defense in a $50 million defamation trial in Fairfax, Va. They are seeking to counter the image presented by Depp’s lawyers, who portrayed Heard as the abuser in their relationship, and maintained that Depp would retreat whenever she instigated fights.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA judge refused to dismiss Johnny Depp’s defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard, as the high-profile trial reached its midpoint on Tuesday.Depp is arguing that Heard cost him tens of millions of dollars — and his role in the sixth “Pirates of the Caribbean” film — when she published an op-ed reviving her domestic violence allegations against him. The trial has been underway since April 11 in Fairfax, Va.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA doctor and a nurse recounted the hunt for Johnny Depp’s severed fingertip, as testimony continued on Monday in his $50 million defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.Depp suffered the injury in March 2015, while he was in Australia for the filming of the fifth installment of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. Depp has accused Heard of throwing a bottle at him, severing the top of his middle finger.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA therapist who worked with Johnny Depp and Amber Heard in 2015 testified that the couple engaged in “mutual abuse,” and that Depp could be “triggered” by Heard.Laurel Avis Anderson’s testimony was played for jurors on the third day of the $50 million defamation trial underway in Fairfax, Va. Depp has sued Heard for publishing an op-ed in 2018 in which she alluded to domestic violence claims that she first made in the context of their 2016 divorce.Anderson testified via video deposition in February, and the video was played for the jury on Thursday morning. Anderson said she saw the couple several times between October and December 2015, and that the sessions could be stormy — with both of them threatening to walk out at times.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA judge on Wednesday ruled that several producers of “The Walking Dead” were not cheated out of profits by AMC Networks, bringing the long-running litigation over the hit show closer to a finale.Judge Daniel J. Buckley rejected the producers’ claim that AMC Networks had reverse-engineered the definition of “profits” in their contracts in order to keep the vast majority of the show’s profits for itself.The producers — Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, Charles Eglee and Glen Mazzara — first filed suit in 2017, four years after the show’s creator Frank Darabont — who was fired after the first season — filed a similar claim against AMC.Darabont and CAA, his agency, won a $200 million settlement in their case last July.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA media consultant claims in a new lawsuit that Endeavor stole his unsolicited ideas on how to pitch itself to Wall Street, and that his concepts are single-handedly responsible for saving the company from ruin.David Carde, who describes himself as a consultant in the media and technology sectors, alleges that in September 2019 his attorney emailed an 11-page analysis to Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel and to Ari Greenburg, the president of WME. He apparently never received a response.At the time, Endeavor was making its first effort to launch an IPO.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA limousine driver testified on Wednesday about working for Harvey Weinstein, making him the first witness to take the stand for the producer’s upcoming Los Angeles trial.Alfred “Freddy” Baroth was called to testify early because L.A. prosecutors worry that his health could prevent him from appearing at the trial, which has not been scheduled and remains at least several months away.Baroth’s testimony referred largely to trip records and invoices that established Weinstein’s presence in the city on various dates in 2010 and 2013. Weinstein is facing 11 counts of rape and sexual assault in incidents involving five women between 2004 and 2013.Weinstein appeared in a wheelchair, wearing a mask and a jail jumpsuit, and clutching a paperback copy of the bestselling novel “All the Light We Cannot See.” Netflix is currently adapting the book as a limited series.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA judge on Thursday refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a Russian chess master who alleged that she was defamed in an episode of the Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit.”Nona Gaprindashvili, who rose to prominence as a chess player in the Soviet Union in the 1960s, sued Netflix in federal court in September. She took issue with a line in the series in which a character stated — falsely — that Gaprindashvili had “never faced men.” Gaprindashvili argued that the line was “grossly sexist and belittling,” noting that she had in fact faced 59 male competitors by 1968, the year in which the series was set.Netflix sought to have the suit dismissed, arguing that the show is a work of fiction, and that the First Amendment gives show creators broad artistic license.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA federal judge has dismissed Rose McGowan’s racketeering lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein and his lawyers, after McGowan fired her attorneys and missed a court-ordered briefing deadline.McGowan was one of the first people to go public with allegations of sexual assault against Weinstein in late 2016 and 2017, triggering an avalanche of similar allegations that sparked the #MeToo movement and landed the former producer in prison.In October 2019, McGowan filed a RICO lawsuit against Weinstein and attorneys David Boies and Lisa Bloom, arguing that they had orchestrated an elaborate scheme to spy on her and prevent her from coming forward. Judge Otis D.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA producer on “Rust” is backing another independent film, “Sam & Kate,” starring Dustin Hoffman and Sissy Spacek, which is set to begin production early next year.Ryan Smith is helping to finance the film, which is set to shoot in Thomasville, Ga., starting in mid-February. A source close to the project said that Smith is putting in a portion of the financing and will get an executive producer credit, but that he and his company will not be involved in physical production.Smith, his business partner Allen Cheney, and their company, Thomasville Pictures, have been named in two lawsuits stemming from the fatal shooting on the set of “Rust” last month in New Mexico.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA crew member told Variety that he warned the producers of “Rust” that Dave Halls, the first assistant director, was cavalier about set safety during a previous production.Halls has admitted to investigators that he failed to properly check a gun before handing it to Alec Baldwin on the set of “Rust” on Oct. 21.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA producer on the E! reality show “The Bradshaw Bunch” has filed a gender discrimination suit, alleging that he was fired because the network wanted a “female voice” in his job.Michael Call worked as a co-executive producer on the first season of the unscripted series, which chronicles the home life of NFL Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw. The show — which returns for a second season this fall — features Bradshaw’s wife, two daughters and stepdaughter.Call had worked on several unscripted shows, including as a co-executive producer on “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.” According to the suit, he was told by one executive that he was hired because of his experience with female casts.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA woman has filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against Bob Dylan, alleging that the singer-songwriter sexually abused her in 1965, when she was 12 years old.The suit alleges that Dylan gave her drugs and alcohol, and established an emotional connection that allowed him to sexually abuse her for a period of several weeks.The woman is identified only as J.C. in the complaint, which doesn’t go into significant detail.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA judge ruled on Monday that former prosecutor Linda Fairstein has a plausible claim that she was defamed by “When They See Us,” the Netflix series from Ava DuVernay about the Central Park Five case.Fairstein sued Netflix, DuVernay and writer Attica Locke in March 2020, alleging that the four-part series portrayed her as a “racist, unethical villain” who framed five young men for a brutal rape and beating.Netflix had argued that the show was protected by the First Amendment. In seeking to throw out the suit, the streamer argued that the filmmakers are allowed to use some dramatic license in creating a portrayal of Fairstein that was substantially true.U.S.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA California film producer was arrested on Thursday on charges that he used his production company, PaperChase Films, as a front for an international prostitution ring.Dillon Jordan, who produced “Skin” and “The Kindergarten Teacher,” was indicted last month on prostitution and money laundering charges. The indictment was unsealed on Thursday.The charges allege that Jordan ran the operation from 2010 at least through May 2017, arranging travel for women to meet clients for sex around the country.