TBS, AMC, Lifetime among nets to claim pic’s rights

NEW YORK — Miramax Films may have set a record by selling a total of six cable networks the rights to one movie, “Jersey Girl,” in the shared network window for a combined license fee of about $3.6 million.

The nets are Turner’s TBS and TNT; Rainbow Media Holdings’ AMC, IFC and WE: Women’s Entertainment; and the standalone Lifetime.

Masterminding the deal was Rick Sands, chief operating officer of Miramax, who said he had fun satisfying all of the networks while, as he put it, “cobbling together” such a complicated series of windows within a license term of five years.

Sands declined to discuss dollar figures, but Turner will pony up $1.8 million to get the first plays of the movie for a nine-month exclusive window beginning in July 2006.

Then Lifetime, which will shell out $1 million, gets 12 months to schedule a multiple number of runs.

Turner gets “Jersey Girl” back for just three months before the movie journeys to Rainbow for two years of exclusive plays divided among AMC, WE and IFC.

For the last year of the contract, the movie winds up for its final runs at Turner.

While Turner is one of the most active buyers of recent movies, the Miramax deal signals that Lifetime and Rainbow are beginning to step up after previously steering clear of buying movies in the network window because the license fees were considered prohibitive.

But when a distributor like Miramax can engineer a risk-sharing arrangement like the one for “Jersey Girl,” all sorts of cable networks may start entering the network-window auction to get their hands on fresher movies for reasonable prices.

And the distribs will get the license fees they need to satisfy profit participants, neatly sidestepping the ongoing sluggish TV marketplace for theatrical movies.

Date: Saturday, May 1, 2004

Time: 10 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.

Complete Description

Williamson Auditorium – reserved seating. Tickets at all CarrsTix outlets. UAA student tickets at Campus Center Information Desk only. $7 UAA students.
$20 General Admission. Join filmmaker Kevin Smith as he talks about his films, stories, and philosophy. Q&A follow the lecture. Presentation will be
interpreted for the Deaf. For more information contact 786-1221.

By Jim McLauchlin

Brodie Bruce ends his reign as king of late night when he exclaims “F*** it” and storms off the set of NBC’s Tonight Show. Bruce was under attack from the FCC and Christian Mothers Association for the constant stream of profanity that shocked late night viewers. Jeffrey Macintyre, president of FCC said “This won’t go over well in Oxnard, What’s this kid trying to pull here, you can’t talk that way on T.V.”. Fines in the first month of Bruce’s wild card takeover out weighed his first years salary. Replacing Carson’s trademarked “golf swing” with sophmoric pelvic gyrations, Mr. Bruce won the hearts of males ages 18 to 35. However, Brodie Bruce’s radical departure from traditional Tonight Show booking procedures, the abandonment of pre-interviews, and arcane comic book references are considered too obscure for Mr. and Mrs. Middle America.

Rumors on the set were such that Brodie was constantly prevoking producers and crew members. One crew member recalls “Brodie would ‘stink palm’ network brass and A list guests”. Just two months ago, the notoriously difficult host pressed charges against his assistant and long time friend for allegedly attacking him with pepper spray.

Brodie was first chosen to host the Tonight Show when he was randomly discovered by two network executives while participating in a local game show at a New Jersey mall.

“We decided to replace him with a more personable host” explained NBC V.P. Ralph Meyer.

Mr. Bruce’s publicist could not be reached for comment.