Posted January 21, 2008

RADIO DISNEY AM 1590 DANCE TEAM AUDITIONS JAN. 24 & 31

How would you like to be part of the Disney family? Radio Disney AM 1590 Houston is looking for energetic, self-motivated and talented dancers for their 2008 Dance Team!

Our dance team has traveled all over Texas and have opened for Radio Disney artists B5, The Cheetah Girls, Aly & AJ, The Jonas Brothers and more!

If you would like to be a part of the fun, our auditions will take place at Bellaire Recreation Center on January 24th & 31st, 2008 5125 Laurel St. Bellaire, TX 77401. Starting Auditions 7:30pm

What we are looking for:Dancers and performers (no singing necessary) ages 18 and up with reliable transportation. Dependable and hard working.You are not required to bring a pre-prepared piece.

For more information and details contact Radio Disney Promotions Manager (and WIFT Houston member) Laura N. Peña at 713-552-1590 ext. 12.

SCREEN ACTORS GUILD LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE

The Screen Actors Guild is celebrating its 75 years of history with a Founder’s Day Celebration in every branch on June 21, 2008! You'll want to save the date on your calendar and keep yours eyes open for more details on the Houston celebration! Meanwhile, SAG has launched its new website to members’ delight. Go to www.sag.org and check it out. The new website is more user friendly with the latest information on the WGA, iActor, Houston news and events, plus messages from the President. This is a critical time in our history and I encourage all eligible actors to step into the light and join SAG. By joining the Guild and taking a stand, you strengthen the actor’s position heading into a year of major negotiations. Your participation as a member secures your future financial contract opportunities. If you are already a member, you want to make sure you are seen by those who can employ you. iActor’ online casting service has launched and is being used by casting directors and producers nationwide. I encourage you to go to the website and upload your headshot and resume. There’s no cost to the member – that’s what your dues are for. Don't wait. Check it out and come join us!

Henry Kana
Screen Actors Guild National Director - Houston

WOMEN IN FILM’S FILM FINISHING FUND
Application Deadline, February 8, 2008.

The Women in Film Film Finishing Fund is a project of Women In Film Los Angeles (WIF/LA) The WIF Film Finishing Fund supports filmmakers who make thoughtful and provocative films by or about women. The only one of its kind, the WIFF Film Finishing Fund is in its 23rd year of existence and has awarded more than $1.6 million in cash and in-kind services.

Through its Foundation, WIF sets aside a specific amount each year for its Film Finishing Fund (FFF) grant program to help support independent video and filmmakers who are working in or who actively seek to be working in the entertainment industry and who demonstrate advanced and innovative media making skills consistent with the organization's goals, which are:

• to increase employment and promote equal opportunities for women in the entertainment industry


• to encourage individual creative projects by women and further their professional development


• to enhance the media image of women


• to influence prevailing attitudes and practices regarding and on behalf of women

ABC STUDIOS, PRODUCTION ASSOCIATES PROGRAM

This is a 12-month paid program, during which individuals from diverse backgrounds are placed in entry-level positions in the production management areas of ABC Studios in Burbank, California.

Production Associates will be assigned to five main groups of Primetime Network television production: Production Management, Production Finance, Post-Production Management, Studio Crafts Management, and Business Affairs/Legal Affairs. Entry-level work within these groups involves basic clerical and administrative responsibilities and duties, such as assisting executives, preparing and photocopying documents, handling distribution of reports throughout the organization, answering and routing telephone calls and written communication, and carrying out pick-ups and deliveries.

After a screening and review process, the program administrator and department heads of each group select the candidates they feel will be best suited to successfully handle the responsibilities of the positions. The term of employment is for a one-year period.

Applications for the 2008-2009 program will be available in January 2008. ABC.Production.Associates.Administrator@abc.com

For an application and further information, please contact:

Production Associates Program Administrator
ABC Studios
500 S. Buena Vista Street Burbank, CA 91521-4068
(818) 460-7735 - Information Line
ABC.Production.Associates.Administrator@abc.com

AXIUM PAYROLL DECLARE BANKRUPTCY

Variety Magazine

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117978721.html?categoryid=18&cs=1

By JUSTIN CHANG, MICHAEL FLEMING

Axium Intl., the entertainment industry's third-largest provider of payroll and accounting services, has closed unexpectedly and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Axium shuttered operations Tuesday, a day after its lenders froze the company's bank accounts. Immediate impact was unclear, but some of the frozen funds included paychecks for film projects.

Director Charlie Matthau told Daily Variety that much of the money he was owed on the recently completed indie drama "Baby O" was frozen Tuesday. "I was supposed to go pick up a $75,000 check from the DGA, until they told me there was this problem, that Axium had gone out of business and all the accounts were frozen, " said the helmer, son of the late Walter Matthau. "I feel totally violated, and I'm hoping that the Guild will be able to help me." Matthau said Axium notified him recently that the money had been wired into his account. "In fact, they'd done no such thing, and they were hiding this 400- pound gorilla of bankruptcy," he added. "Because of that memo, I hope that the City Attorney or District Attorney looks into this. It has affected me and likely a whole lot of other people."

A Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing is designed to govern the liquidation of company assets. Axium reps were not available for comment Tuesday, and the headquarters offices on Wilshire Boulevard were shuttered. Axium president Ruben Rodriguez had left the firm. Axium employees were told Monday not to come to work until further notice, and if in contact with their clients, to tell them that Axium could no longer process their business.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG's deputy national exec director and general counsel, said in a statement, "Screen Actors Guild is investigating the situation and will take every action possible to protect the interests of our members. While we are closely following the status of Axium, it is important to bear in mind that payment to talent is ultimately the responsibility of the employers and not the payroll companies they choose to engage." Axium's recent work included providing the payroll services for "Grace Is Gone," "The Savages," "Feast of Love" and "Babel."

A veteran accountant at a production company who regularly used Axium for projects said he was completely stunned by the bankruptcy. "I never saw this coming or imagined that this could happen," the exec said. "Axium had a terrific budget system, and software that allowed you access to records for all of the productions you did over the past several years. If that software is frozen, I don't know what I'm going to do."

FILM NEWS/AUSTIN CHRONICLE

BY JOE O'CONNELL

Austin gets Pitt, Dallas dumps Travolta, Denzel pays up

Ready for a thick slice of post-Christmas celeb gossip, Texas-style? As we told you way back in September, Terrence Malick is planning a spring shoot hereabouts of Tree of Life, his long-gestating project with Sean Penn in the cast. What we didn't tell you is Brad Pitt, according to Variety, is in talks to replace Heath Ledger. Meanwhile, John Travolta is no longer attached to the big-screen version of TV's Dallas, which may or may not shoot in Big D. It gets weirder. New York Post's "Page Six" column says the film, years in the planning, is now going from drama to kitschy comedy. And in East Texas, Denzel Washington left a $1 million tip after a premiere screening of his The Great Debaters at Marshall's Wiley College, which was the real-life backdrop for the debate team featured in the movie. Washington's bucks will go to revive the school's debate team.

Remake it, and they will come

The Alamo Drafthouse's latest side project is aimed at you, the goofy wannabe filmmaker. It's FilmmakingFrenzy.com, a website devoted to the wackiest filmmaking contests the Alamo can conjure. First up is Rewind Kindly, inspired by the Michel Gondry's film Be Kind Rewind, which opens Jan. 25 and features Jack Black as a guy who accidentally erases every movie at a local video store and attempts to reconstruct them by acting them out. In that vein, contest teams will have until Jan. 18 to complete an up-to-five-minute, homemade, low-budget remake of a popular Hollywood film. I'm envisioning either Being There with Chance the gardener strolling down South Congress or perhaps Fargo done with Claymation, but a Star Wars remake is a safer bet. Entries will screen at the Alamo.

And the rest ...

Count director Richard Linklater, actor Luke Wilson, and Zadi Diaz, creator of the Web series EPIC-FU, among judges for the Greenlight Awards honoring the best online episodic series. The awards are sponsored by ON Networks and South by Southwest Film. More at www.onnetworks.com/contest/register/greenlight... Alina Fernández Revuelta, daughter of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, has signed a deal with Austin-based Artists Relations Group to tell her life story on the big screen... Villa Muse Studios is taking a step toward its planned 2008 groundbreaking with the hiring of Barry Bongiovi to manage the recording complex and Ed Evans as technical director. The plan is for a production and postproduction facility for film, television, game development, animation, advertising, video, and restoration... Disney Channel fans may not know that As the Bell Rings, a series of two- to five-minute sitcom shorts set outside a principal's office and airing on the network, was shot at Del Valle High School... Visual effects pro Eric Pham of Austin has optioned a script titled Kid Spaghetti with plans to produce, according to InkTip.com...

BELO BRINGING LOCAL NEWS TO YAHOO

Exclusive deal between the two advertising partners will see the media publisher delivering local video content to Yahoo News.

From CNNMONEY.COM

January 9 2008: 7:22 PM EST

DALLAS (AP) -- Belo Corp. says 13 of its television stations will be the exclusive providers of local news video in their markets to Web site operator Yahoo.

The companies said Wednesday that they will share advertising revenue from the videos. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo said the videos will be available only on local news pages of Yahoo! News.

Yahoo said the additional clips from the Belo stations broaden its local news video coverage to include 18 of the nation's top 25 markets.

Belo President Dunia A. Shive said the agreement will help both companies benefit from the rapid growth of online video.

The videos will be provided from Web sites of Belo stations in Houston, San Antonio, Austin, New Orleans, Phoenix, St. Louis and Seattle/Tacoma and Spokane, Wash; Portland, Ore.; Tucson, Ariz.; Charlotte, N.C.; Louisville, Ky., and Hampton/Norfolk, Va.

The deal doesn't extend to Belo stations in Dallas and Boise, Idaho.

SUPPORT THE WRITERS STRIKE AND THE WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA

Solidarity and Support

Thank you to those who have come out in support of the Writers Guild in our ongoing fight for a fair contract.

GENERAL PUBLIC
LOCAL BUSINESSES
GUILDS, UNIONS AND ORGANZATIONS
PUBLIC FIGURES

GENERAL PUBLIC

If you'd like to support our members in their fight for a fair contract, here's what you can do:

• Send us an e-mail and voice your support. We will post your message here for our members to read (Comments will be moderated for content).
• Join our National Action Campaign and send letters to the heads of these Companies urging them to bargain fairly with the Writers Guild.
• Contact these corporate sponsors and ask for them for their help in bringing the Companies back to the bargaining table.
• Donate to the Writers Guild Foundation Industry Support Fund which has been established to assist members of the industry who are in financial distress as a direct result of the Writers Guild of America strike.
• Purchase strike t-shirts to show your support. All proceeds will be donated to the Industry Support Fund.