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At Last: Music Modernization Act Passes the Senate, with Classics Act Covering Pre-1972 Recordings and Songs

Roger Friedman
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At Last: Music Modernization Act Passes the Senate, with Classics Act Covering Pre-1972 Recordings and Songs

Yesterday the Senate passed the Music Modernization Act, which includes something called the Classics Act. The House already approved it. Now the bill goes back to the House, where it should be reconfirmed, and then it must be signed by the president. Once that happens, millions of musicians whose music was made before 1972 will start getting paid.

The bill revamps Section 115 of the U.S. Copyright Act, combining three major pieces of legislation:

The Music Modernization Act, which streamlines the music licensing process to make it easier for rights holders to get paid when their music is streamed online.
The CLASSICS Act (Compensating Legacy Artists for their Songs, Service, & Important Contributions to Society Act) for pre-1972 recordings.
The AMP Act (or Allocation for Music Producers Act), which improves royalty payouts for producers and engineers from SoundExchange when their recordings are used on satellite and online radio. Notably, this is the first time producers have ever been mentioned in copyright law.

This will be a shock to Sirius XM and other online music sources, but it had to happen. The party is over. Great people like Aretha Franklin and Phil Ramone didn’t live long enough tp see this happen. But their heirs will finally see some reward, and plenty of living artists who’ve struggled financially will benefit. Good news for a change!

Emmys: “Handmaid’s Tale” Actress Kelly Jenrette and Husband Actor Melvin Jackson Jr. Make the Rounds

Leah Sydney
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Emmys: “Handmaid’s Tale” Actress Kelly Jenrette and Husband Actor Melvin Jackson Jr. Make the Rounds

The mega hit, “The Handmaid’s Tale” alas, did not win at the Emmys, but Emmy nominated Kelly Jenrette, she was nominated for guest stint on the series, extolled Elizabeth Moss at the recent Doris Bergman’s 9th Annual Style Lounge & Party at Fig & Olive in West Hollywood.   

Talented Kelly said that, “Working with Elisabeth Moss was a dream.  I didn’t feel like I needed to prove my worth.  From the moment she introduced herself, she was so kind and thanked me for being there.  That allowed me, as a newcomer coming into an already amazing show, to just breathe and relax.” 

Jenrette and her husband, Melvin Jackson Jr, who was also nominated for his original webs series, “The Eddie Murphy Role Is Mine, Not Yours,” made history as the first African American couple to earn Emmy nods in the same year. 

Other celebs at Bergman’s talked about event were Joely and Tricia Leigh Fisher, Khandi Alexander, Bonnie and Anita Pointer from the Pointer Sisters, Gelb Savchencko from DWTS, Lou Ferrigno and many more celebs and VIP’s perused this sought after event, hosted by Green Horizen and presented by Precious Vodka, featured tons of buzzy products.  Twisted Silver, always a celeb favorite, as well as the always popular My Saint, My Hero blessing bracelets, Sue Wong Couture and Fragrance, Nourish Modern Wellness Skin Care, Mobile White, Goldinger’s Print Tees, Rhonda Shear’s Aah Bras, Emmy’s Hope Dog Accessories, Rock Your Hair, Popsockets phone accessories, The Hollywood Trinity, Popcornopolis and VIP gift bags provided by Emmy’s Hope & Kam Shield.and more.  Lollies & Lace couture baby clothing, Porto Vino handbags and messenger bags, Zirconmania; Diamond Veneer, Beauty Kitchen bath products, all were crowded with VIP’s. 

Guests munched on Emporium Thai yummy appetizers, ate Let’s Cake, drank Filam Luxury Coffee, snacked on Junkless Granola Bars, sipped BeatBox Portable Party Punch, Hint water and Sunder sparkling beverages, and topped it off with wine from Buywine.com.   After that, they ate a terrific lunch at this popular hot spot.  Wednesday’s Child, which highlights LA’s foster care system, was there for a pre-holiday gift drive.  Once again, classy Doris Bergman shows Hollywood how a luxury lounge is done!

Emmy Parties: HBO Brings the A List, as Netflix Makes a Bid for After-Awards Swank

Roger Friedman
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Emmy Parties: HBO Brings the A List, as Netflix Makes a Bid for After-Awards Swank

The Emmy Awards after party game still belongs to HBO, but Netflix took a shot last night, too.

HBO still turns the soaring heights of the Pacific Design Center into the party of parties, stuffed with Emmy-clutching stars and miscellaneous people of interest like former Obama speechwriter and podcast star Jon Favreau, for instance.

Most of the “Game of Thrones” crowd came over from the Emmys, while winner Peter Dinklage had a tete-a-tete with HBO president Richard Plepler. Evan Rachel Wood of “Westworld” literally danced through the room while George RR Martin, the man who gave us “GoT,” grumpily took selfies with enraptured fans.

Certainly the center of attention was “Barry” star Henry Winkler, who won his first Emmy ever after 43 years in the business and superstardom as Fonzie on “Happy Days.” He hugged and kissed nearly everyone in the room. His on stage acceptance speech was so clever –like younger award winners, he told his sons they could “go to sleep now.” They are 38 and 35 years old. “My son said Dad, why’d you do that?” Winkler told me. “I said, I wrote it 42 years ago!”

I asked Stacey Winkler where she was going to put the golden statue, which has a lot of pointy ends. “On the dining room table, we can break the fast with it and put bagels on the end,” she said. Tomorrow is Yom Kippur.

I chatted with David Benioff, co-EP of “GoT” and winner of the Emmy last night for drama. His 2nd cousin, Marc Benioff, billionaire owner of SalesForce, has just bought Time Magazine.  They share a great grandfather but don’t really know each other, coming from different coasts. “I met him at 43,” David said. But maybe this guarantees the last season of “GoT” a Time cover.

At the Netflix party, set up handsomely in the Neuehouse on Sunset Blvd., we waited and waited for Claire Foy and “The Crown” gang. Alas, they didn’t show, while the party filled up to frightening capacities. Still, I was happy to see a great acting couple, Rosemarie DeWitt and Ron Livingston, as well as producer Dana Brunetti, who escaped the Kevin Spacey scandals and will now produce ‘the’ movie about the cave bound school soccer players in Thailand. RuPaul made the rounds, as did Dave Chapelle, and the great Ernie Hudson of “Ghostbusters” fame.

Netflix gave HBO a run for its money last night, tying them in wins. But HBO was lacking “Veep,” which would have put them over, and “Big Little Lies,” which will also be back next season. Yes, next time HBO comes at the Emmys with Meryl Streep. So, kudos to Netflix but the game is hot. (And whatever happened to Showtime?)

 

Emmy Ratings Crash as TV Academy Let’s “SNL” Run Wild, Ignores TV Audience

Roger Friedman
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Emmy Ratings Crash as TV Academy Let’s “SNL” Run Wild, Ignores TV Audience

Me? I love “Saturday Night Live,” Colin Jost and Michael Che, even Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph. I could listen to them snark all night. But let’s not forget that “SNL” is aka the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. They are after hours comedians, for the hip and the clique-ish. They are not the mainstream audience.

And so last night, like the last several Emmy shows, was a disaster ratings wise. No one who watches TV is watching this show. TV ratings come from “The Big Bang Theory” and “NCIS.” But the Emmys have become the Cable ACE Awards. Only two shows– “Blackish” and “This is US”– were even involved in last night’s Emmys. The rest came from cable other subscription platforms.

On top of that, the whole show– which I thought was funny and clever in spots, and I was sitting there– was a diatribe. I couldn’t imagine the TV audience giving a hoot about what was going on. And they didn’t. Only 10  million watched the first hour– which was the best hour by far with comedy awards. By 11pm there 7.74 million people. That means 2.3 million gave up before the drama awards and the two big finales.

And there were some strange things. Even though I admired the Aretha Franklin tribute, she wasn’t a TV star. And John McCain? John McCain from his prisoner days? What was he doing in the In Memoriam? That particularly wreaked of Harvard Lampoon silliness– let’s sneak John McCain in to embarrass Donald Trump (again, I loathe Trump so that’s not the point).

Well, you reap what you sow. No one at the TV Academy listens. More than the Motion Picture Academy, the Emmys need a Most Popular Something. And they need to feature the actors and actresses who bring in viewers every week– from Mark Harmon to Mariska Hargitay.

How ABC Deals with Roseanne’s Character on “The Conners”: She Will Die from an Opioid Overdose

Roger Friedman
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How ABC Deals with Roseanne’s Character on “The Conners”: She Will Die from an Opioid Overdose

Roseanne Conner is getting killed off from “The Conners” in the worst way possible: she’ll die of an opioid overdose.

Roseanne Barr, her portrayer, revealed the cause of death on a YouTube interview over the weekend. “There’s nothing I can do about it,” she says. “It’s done. It’s over.”

Even though I disapproved of Roseanne’s Valerie Jarrett tweet, and her  behavior since then, this seems unnecessarily harsh. Roseanne Conner doesn’t die a hero, or bravely fighting a disease. It’s a cruel end.

Barr says in the interview that the death and the treatment of the Conner family is “insulting.”

The plan is to discuss the death for 10 episodes. By week 2, the fans should be gone. “The Conners” already feels like “AfterMASH,” a sequel that should not exist. “Archie Bunker’s Place” also felt like a nasty and caustic coda to “All in the Family.” These sequels are pointless without their central characters. Just ask Cloris Leachman about “Phyllis.”

So don’t be surprised if “The Conners” doesn’t get renewed. The first couple of weeks will be big out of curiosity. Then– sounds kind of dismal.

Emmy Awards: With “Veep” Off the Ballot, Which Comedy Will Win Tonight?

Roger Friedman
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Emmy Awards: With “Veep” Off the Ballot, Which Comedy Will Win Tonight?

The Emmy Awards are approaching within hours and there’s a big show missing from the ballot: “Veep.” This is the first time in years that Julia Louis-Dreyfus and co. are out of contention– they’ll be back next year for the last time.

So which comedy will take the place of “Veep”? In recent years, “Atlanta” has shown a lot of strength at other awards shows. Donald Glover is very hot these days, so “Atlanta” could be the successor tonight.

But there’s a lot of money riding on the other nominees, all of which are very good. They include “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Barry,” “Blackish,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Glow,” “Silicon Valley,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.”

Three of the choices come from HBO– “Curb,” “Barry,” and “Silicon Valley.” Larry David’s show always has a big following, so I’d think it would be the surprise– also, there’s the “Seinfeld” connection to “Veep.”

“Mrs. Maisel” was put in the comedy category. I don’t know why–it’s a drama. I’d love it to win a lot of awards. I just don’t know if the voters are thrown by the category.

If “Blackish” pulls off a win, that would be earth shaking. It’s only the show with African Americans, and the only nominee from a broadcast network.

So keep watching for this category. It’s a nailbiter!

 

Irony: Mia Farrow Said to Be Upset Woody Allen Finally Using Her Own Tactics Against Her

Roger Friedman
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Irony: Mia Farrow Said to Be Upset Woody Allen Finally Using Her Own Tactics Against Her

Page Six reports that tomorrow’s New York magazine will have a feature on Soon Yi Previn Allen, daughter of Mia Farrow, and wife of Woody Allen for 25 years. She’s also the mother of Woody’s two grown daughters.

The report claims that Farrow and her daughter Dylan are upset because the author of the piece is a friend of Woody’s, Daphne Merkin.

How hilarious is that?Farrow regularly uses her pals to attack Woody. New York Times writer Nick Kristof, one of her best friends, used his op-ed space in the paper a couple of years and gave Dylan a forum to character assassinate Woody. In Vanity Fair, her buddy Maureen Orth made up the whole Frank Sinatra is Ronan Farrow’s father canard as Mia’s behest.

Well, Farrows, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, as they say. Now Soon Yi will set the record straight. Maybe Amazon Studios will take what she has to say seriously and release Woody’s new movie. The worst kind of blacklisting has been served on Woody, and he doesn’t deserve it.

Toronto Film Fest Surprise: Audience Chooses Buddy Film over Michael Moore, Lady Gaga, Moon Landing Astronauts

Roger Friedman
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Toronto Film Fest Surprise: Audience Chooses Buddy Film over Michael Moore, Lady Gaga, Moon Landing Astronauts

Surprise! The Toronto Film Festival audiences have voted for their favorite film.

It was not Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in ” A Star is Born” or Ryan Gosling in “First Man” or Michael Moore’s anti Trump doc “Fahrenheit 11-9.”

The winner of the Audience Award was Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book,” a kind of “Driving Miss Daisy” for the new generation. Viggo Mortensen stars as an Italian bouncer in the South, circa the early 60s, who has to drive around a famous musician, played by Oscar winner Mahershala Ali. They use the “Green Book” which is a guide to restaurants and motels were blacks were allowed.

“Green Book” is now certainly a main Oscar contender. It was shown at TIFF toward the end, after many critics had left. But audiences loved it.

The runners-up were Barry Jenkins’ excellent “If Beale Street Could Talk” and Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” both of which are likely Oscar candidates as well. Grolsch gives the Audience Award and pays the winning director $15,000.

Farrelly is usually not associated with award winning films, but funny ones and box office hits. His credits include “Dumb and Dumber,” “There’s Something About Mary,” and “Shallow Hal.”

The films that lost the Grolsch award will absolutely be Oscar contenders. But the studios that made them are getting quite a marketing referendum here. The audience didn’t vote for them despite critical raves.

“Green Book” will be released on November 21st by Dreamworks/Amblin, the same mini-studio that also has “First Man.”

Here’s the full list of winners:

IWC Short Cuts Awards – Canadian:  Brotherhood

IWC Short Cuts Awards- International:  The Field

Canadian First Feature: Roads In February

Canadian Feature Film: The Fireflies Are Gone

Fipresci Jury Award – Discovery: Float Like A Butterfly

Fipresci Jury Award – Special Presentations: Skin

Eurimage Audentia Award   –  Fig Tree

NETPAC Award For World or International Asian Premiere:  The Third Wife

Toronto Platform Prize: Cities Of Last Things

Grolsch People’s Choice Award –  Midnight Madness: The Man Who Feels No Pain

Grolsch People’s Choice Award – Documentary: Free Solo

Grolsch People’s Choice Award: Green Book

“Blade Runner 2049,” A Cult Hit with Disappointing Box Office, Headed to TV as Series

Roger Friedman
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“Blade Runner 2049,” A Cult Hit with Disappointing Box Office, Headed to TV as Series

EXCLUSIVE

We haven’t seen the last of Rick Deckard. The last time we saw the hero of “Blade Runner” was in “2049” last year. Played by Harrison Ford, he found his daughter, born from replicant.

Meanwhile, the younger star of the movie, K, played by Ryan Gosling, lay dying, while snow fell all around him.

The sequel to “Blade Runner,” so hotly anticipated, was a box office disappointment. But Roger Deakins won an Oscar for cinematography, and the movie won a second Oscar for Best Achievement in Visual effects. The fervor for “Blade Runner” still exists. A third movie wouldn’t be practical, but a TV series was inevitable.

And so I’ve been told that the series is being developed right now, although no details are set. It does seem like Rick, his daughter, and maybe K sans snowflakes would form the central family, with lots of possibilities for new characters and old ones. Producers of the film are on the fast track.

The biggest part of a “Blade Runner” TV series would be the look. They’re not going to get Deakins, so the hunt would be on for a director of photography who can translate the iconic “Blade Runner” images.

And who would play Rick? Not Harrison Ford although who knows? Maybe Netflix or Amazon would pay for him. But if this turns out to be for Syfy or another cabler, the casting will have to be ingenious.

Emmy Awards Parties: Variety Beats Hollywood Reporter in Trade War, BAFTA Brings the Brits

Roger Friedman
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Emmy Awards Parties: Variety Beats Hollywood Reporter in Trade War, BAFTA Brings the Brits

The trade war in tinsel town is about the trade newspapers, Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, and which could throw the best Emmy Awards weekend party.

Variety won by a mile, hooking up with Women in Film and taking over Cecconi’s hot spot on Melrose formerly Morton’s and the location of the annual Vanity Fair party during its heyday.

The Variety WiF gala had all the energy of the old VF shindig, except with TV stars– a few of whom should be aiming for movies ASAP. I do mean Sterling K. Brown of “This is Us” fame, who will another statue on Monday night as supporting actor in a drama (Tony Shalhoub should get comedy). It’s time for him to get off that show and make his move into top notch film. (He will. He has a contract. But hey — Jack is dead. It can happen to anyone!)

There as an intense moment at VWiF when it seemed like tons of familiar faces were there, from Brown to Thandie Newton (who made the rounds with RuPaul all day, spotted earlier at BAFTA’s swell garden get together at the Beverly Hilton), plus Ann Dowd, Jenna Dewan, Trevor Noah, “Boys Don’t Cry” director Kimberly Peirce, Jenna Elfman (looking very much like Rosamund Pike), Lakeith Stanfield, Alison Brie, Busy Phillips, Laverne Cox, Geoffrey Wright, the kids from “Stranger Things), Samira Wiley, Sarah Hyland from “Modern Family,” and a blonde. just-turned-30 Rumer Willis, who has really grown into a beautiful young woman. There was also a special appearance by Caitlyn Jenner.

Just an hour earlier, the BAFTA garden party hosted the great Hal Linden of “Barney Miller” fame, movie mogul Byron Allen, “Young and Restless” EP Mal Young, “Crazy Rich Asians” star Henry Golding, plus Jared Harris, Justin Hartley, the ever-gorgeous Lynn Whitfield, “St Elsewhere” alums Cynthia Sikes and Christina Pickles, a very low key Celia Imrie, plus producer Sam Sokolow, Louie Anderson, and the hot as a pistol nominee from “Jesus Christ Superstar” Broadway star Brandon Victor Dixon.

Whew!

 

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